1 Nephi 22:14 Textual Variants

While copying from 𝓞 to 𝓟, Oliver Cowdery omitted the pronoun they, thus changing “all they which” to “all which”. The 1830 typesetter rejected the awkwardness of “all which” and replaced the relative pronoun which with that. In his editing of 𝓟 for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith first emended the which to who (his normal practice), but then noting that the 1830 edition had that, he crossed out his first correction and supralinearly inserted the that. If the original they hadn’t been omitted by Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith would have probably ended up editing the text here to read (according to his normal practice) as “all those who fight against Zion”.

Nearby we have another example where the 1830 typesetter changed the relative pronoun which to that. Once more Joseph Smith edited 𝓟 to agree with the 1830 reading:

• 1 Nephi 22:31
  • wherefore ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones [which 0|which >js that 1|that ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] have testified and also taught them

Occasionally, Joseph himself made the change from which to that (for instance, in 1 Nephi 13:19, which originally read “the Gentiles which had gone out of captivity”). But normally he changed the which to who—in fact, 17 times in 1 Nephi 22, including five examples where he altered “all they which”. In four cases the resulting phraseology is “all those who” (verses 5 and 20 and twice in verse 23), and in one case “all they who” (verse 19).

1 Nephi 22 also has one more example where a wh-initial relative pronoun was replaced by that. In this instance, the 1874 RLDS edition replaced one of Joseph Smith’s edited who’s with a that, probably by accident:

• 1 Nephi 22:15
  • for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they [which 0A|which >js who 1|who BCDEFGIJLMNOPQRST|that HK] do wickedly shall be as stubble

For a complete discussion regarding the change (when referring to persons) of the relative pronoun which to who(m) or that, see which in volume 3. Unless there is specific evidence to suggest a primitive error, the critical text will depend upon the earliest textual sources in determining which relative pronoun should be used in any particular case.