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Textual Variants Part1 Running Head analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon ᔢ analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon [ i ] the critical text of the book of mormon Volume One The Original Manuscript 4 Volume Two The Printer’s Manuscript part one Copyright 3 1830 Preface 1 Nephi 1 – Alma 17:26 part two Alma 17:26 – Moroni 10:34 Testimony of Three Witnesses Testimony of Eight Witnesses 4 Volume Four Analysis of Textual Variants part one Title Page 3 Witness Statements 1 Nephi 1 – 2 Nephi 10 part two 2 Nephi 11 – Mosiah 16 part three Mosiah 17 – Alma 20 part four Alma 21–55 part five Alma 56 – 3 Nephi 18 part six 3 Nephi 19 –Moroni 10 Addenda Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon Royal Skousen the foundation for ancient research and mormon studies brigham young university provo, utah 2014 ©2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Royal Skousen and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form, including but not limited to printed, electronic, or digital means, without written permission from the copyright holders. library of congress cataloguing-in-publication data Skousen, Royal. Analysis of textual variants of the Book of Mormon / Royal Skousen. p. cm. — (The critical text of the Book of Mormon ; v. 4) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Book of Mormon—Criticism, Textual. I. Title. II. Series. BX8627.S56 2004 289.3Ⱥ22—dc22 2004010131 ISBN: 978–0–934893–07–1 [Part One] ISBN: 978–0–934893–08–4[Part Two] ISBN: 978–0–934893–11–4 [Part Three] ISBN: 978–0–934893–12–1 [Part Four] ISBN: 978–0–934893–13–8[Part Five] ISBN: 978–0–934893–78–7 [Part Six] printed in the united states of america Table of Contents ᔢ Introduction 3 Principles of Textual Criticism The Original Text Textual Variants Conjectural Emendations 9 Publishing the Critical Text Project 10 Discussion of the Readings Scriptural Citations Bolding and Italics Spellings Punctuation Versification Manuscript Transcriptions Quotations Pronunciations Variables Constant References 14 Citing the Textual Variants Standard Textual Sources Early Sources for the Title Page Variant Specifications Adding and Deleting Words Indicating Whether the Original Manuscript Is Extant Changes within a Textual Source Ambiguities in the Manuscripts Additions and Deletions in the Manuscripts Types of Manuscript Changes Changes Made by Different Scribes Lemmatized Variants Special Symbols 23 Acknowledgments ᔢ Analysis of Textual Variants 27 Title Page 37 Witness Statements 41 1 Nephi 1–22 469 2 Nephi 1–33 analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon [ v ] Table of Contents 933 Jacob 1–7 1071 Enos, Jarom, Omni 1121 The Words of Mormon 1133 Mosiah 1–29 1573 Alma 1–63 2873 Helaman 1–16 3177 3 Nephi 1–30 3557 4 Nephi 3583 Mormon 1–9 3713 Ether 1–15 3889 Moroni 1–10 3963 Addenda [ vi ] analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon Running Head [this page left intentionally blank] [ 2 ] analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon Running Head Introduction Principles of Textual Criticism ᔢ The Original Text The purpose of this volume of the critical text (volume 4) is to determine the original English-language text of the Book of Mormon, to the extent that it can be determined by human means. I will generally refer to this text as simply the original text (that is, without repeating the attribute “English-language”). In other words, the term “original text” does not refer to the ancient-language text that the Book of Mormon was translated from. Basically, the original text refers to the English-language text that Joseph Smith saw by means of the interpreters and the seer stone. Although I myself believe that Joseph actually saw words of English, it is also possible that the English-language text he saw was in his mind’s eye rather than literally in the physical instruments. Under either interpretation, the term “original text” refers to the English-language text that Joseph received by revelation, but not necessarily to what Joseph dictated or what his scribes wrote down. Obviously, we do not have access to what Joseph himself actually saw. And of the current text of the Book of Mormon, only 28 percent is extant in the original manuscript (the text that the scribes wrote down as Joseph dictated the Book of Mormon). The printer’s manuscript (the copy of the original manuscript that Joseph’s scribes later made) is fully extant except for three manuscript lines. But this sec- ond manuscript is already twice removed from what was revealed to Joseph Smith. We also know that the 1830 edition (the first printed edition) was set from the original manuscript for about one-sixth of the Book of Mormon text (namely, from somewhere in Helaman 13 through the end of Mormon). That part of the 1830 edition is also twice removed from the original text. The rest of the 1830 edition was taken from the printer’s manuscript, so five-sixths of the 1830 edition is thrice removed from the original text. ᔢ Textual Variants Most of the changes discussed here in volume 4 will involve textual variation for some word or phrase. In citing each of these passages, I list the specific individual variants according to 22 textual sources: namely, the original manuscript (when extant), the printer’s manuscript, and 20 significant editions of the Book of Mormon. I will refer to editions published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as LDS editions. Similarly, editions published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon [ 3 ] Introduction named the Community of Christ) will be referred to as RLDS editions. Also, I will distinguish between the two churches as the LDS Church and the RLDS Church, but these names should be understood as conven- ient references to the o¤cial names of these churches. I will also maintain this terminology when referring to the di›ering LDS and RLDS textual traditions. Generally speaking, I rely on the earliest extant source (or sources) in determining the reading of the original text. In many instances, usage elsewhere in the text will strongly support the earliest reading. As an example, consider the following case of textual variation: 1 Nephi 12:18 and a great and a terrible gulf divideth them yea even the [sword 0|word 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] of the justice of the eternal God The unknown scribe 2 in the original manuscript (represented by the number 0) wrote “the sword of the justice of the eternal God”. When Oliver Cowdery copied this passage into the printer’s manuscript (repre- sented by the number 1), he misread scribe 2’s original sword as word, with the result that all the editions (from the 1830 edition to the 1981 LDS edition, represented as A through T) have read “the word of the justice of the eternal God”. The critical text will accept the earliest reading. Significantly, usage elsewhere in the Book of Mormon strongly supports this use of sword. Nowhere else is there any reference to “the word of God’s justice”, but there are seven other references to “the sword of God’s justice”: Alma 26:19 the sword of his justice Alma 60:29 the sword of justice Helaman 13:5 the sword of justice (two times) 3 Nephi 20:20 the sword of my justice 3 Nephi 29:4 the sword of his justice Ether 8:23 the sword of the justice of the eternal God Note in particular that the phraseology in the last example (Ether 8:23) is precisely the same as the original reading in 1 Nephi 12:18. Throughout this volume, I will usually refer to usage elsewhere in the text when evaluating the variant readings. One particular problem that arises in the Book of Mormon text is that the grammatical usage, espe- cially in the earliest sources, is nonstandard. Generally speaking, I will accept such nonstandard usage, even though it may very well be that in some cases the original text read according to standard usage. As an example, consider how the scribes wrote down the past-tense form drowned in the manuscripts. Oliver Cowdery always wrote the standard form, drowned. Scribe 3 of the original manuscript also wrote down the standard past-tense form but with the spelling drownd. On the other hand, scribe 2 of the original manuscript wrote down drownded. In the following list, Oliver Cowdery is the scribe except as noted: original manuscript printer’s manuscript 1 Nephi 4:2 drownded (scribe 2) drowned 1 Nephi 8:32 drownd (scribe 3) drowned 1 Nephi 17:27 drowned drowned 1 Nephi 18:13 drowned drowned [ 4 ] analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon Introduction Alma 63:8 drowned drowned 3 Nephi 8:9 <not extant> drowned 3 Nephi 9:4 <not extant> drowned 3 Nephi 10:13 <not extant> drowned The critical text will accept drownded in the one place where we have evidence for its occurrence (namely, in 1 Nephi 4:2), even though all other occurrences of the past-tense form support drowned. It is possible that scribe 2 of the original manuscript (or even Joseph Smith) is responsible for the introduction of the nonstandard form drownded. But drownded is an actual form in dialectal English and the original text may have actually read drownded. Therefore, the critical text will accept it as the original text but only for this one occurrence in the earliest text (the original manuscript).
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