1 Nephi 22:22–23 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and the righteous need not fear for [it is 0A|it is >js thy are 1|they are BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [they 0A|they >js those 1|those BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [which 0A|which >js who 1|who BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] shall not be confounded … yea in fine all [they 0A|they >js thos 1|those BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [which 0A|which >js who 1|who BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] belong to the kingdom of the devil [it is 0A|it is >js are 1|are BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] they [which 0A|which >js who 1|who BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] need fear and tremble and quake [it is 0A|it is >js they are 1|they are BCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT|They are PS] [they 0A|they >js those those 1|those BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [which 0A|which >js who 1|who BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] must be brought low in the dust [it is 0A|it is >js they are 1|they are BCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT|They are PS] [they 01A|those BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [which 0A|which >js who 1|who BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] must be consumed as stubble

In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith interpreted the pronoun it in these four cases as standing for explicit plurals. Under this interpretation, the first one refers to the righteous (verse 22) and the three others refer to “all they which belong to the kingdom of the devil” (verse 23). Thus Joseph decided to generally edit “it is” to “they are”, although in the second example he did not change it to they because they would have redundantly restated its referent (namely, “all they which belong to the kingdom of the devil”); instead, Joseph just deleted the it.

In reality, the it is being used in these examples as an existential subject, not a specific pronoun referring to an inherent plural. In other words, the original text is basically saying that “it is the righteous which shall not be confounded” (in verse 22) and that “it is the wicked [those who belong to the kingdom of the devil] which need fear” (in verse 23). Such usage is perfectly acceptable and normal in English. In fact, the text has several unedited examples of this same existential “it is” followed by a plural pronominal subject modified by a wh-initial relative clause:

Thus the original examples of the existential it in 1 Nephi 22:22–23 are wholly appropriate.

Summary: Restore the four instances of existential it in 1 Nephi 22:22–23.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 1

References