1 Nephi 20:18 Textual Variants

Isaiah 48:18 (King James Bible)

O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments then had thy peace been as a river

The 1837 edition changed the plural commandments to the singular. This change was undoubtedly a typo since there is no motivation here to edit the text. Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon there are only two examples of “hearken (un)to one’s commandment(s)”; in each case the verb hearken takes the plural commandments rather than the singular:

• Nephi 4:11
  • yea and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord
• Nephi 2:28
  • I would that ye should look to the great Mediator and hearken unto his great commandments

And of course, the corresponding Isaiah passage for 1 Nephi 20:18 has the plural commandments. In accord with the early textual sources, the 1981 LDS edition restored the correct plural.