wherefore I had been their ruler and their teacher according to the commandments of the Lord until the time [that >js NULL 1|that A| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] they sought to take
away my life
The expression “until the time” directly precedes a clause nine times in the Book of Mormon text. In all cases but two, the earliest textual sources have the subordinate conjunction that
between “until the time” and the clause immediately following. Besides this example from 2 Nephi 5:19, we have the following six examples with the that:
- Mosiah 8:2
- and he caused that Ammon should stand up before the multitude and rehearse unto them all that had happened unto their brethren from the time that Zeniff went up out of the land even
until the time that he himself came up out of the land
- Mosiah 9 preface
- An account of his people from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until the time that they were delivered out of the hands of the Lamanites
- Mosiah 21:22
- and it came to pass that there was no more disturbance between the Lamanites and the people of Limhi even until the time that Ammon and his brethren came into the
land
- Alma 25:15
- they did look forward to the coming of Christ considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the
time that he should be revealed unto them
- 3 Nephi 26:3
- and he did expound all things even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory
- Moroni 10:3
- that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things
The two examples where the that is not in the earliest textual sources occur in the same passage:
- Mosiah 25:5–6
- yea he read the records of the people of Zeniff from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until the time they returned again and he also read the account of Alma and
his brethren and all their afflictions from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until the time they returned again
Four of the above examples (all in the book of Mosiah) occur with a preceding “from the time” followed by a clause, and in one case the that is present:
- Mosiah 8:2 from the time that Zeniff went up out of the land
- Mosiah 9 preface from the time they left the land of Zarahemla
- Mosiah 25:5 from the time they left the land of Zarahemla
- Mosiah 25:6 from the time they left the land of Zarahemla
Thus the choice of the that is optional; in each case we rely on the earliest textual sources to determine whether the that is there. For further discussion of the optionality
of the subordinate conjunction that, see that in volume 3.
Joseph Smith removed the conjunction that in only the first of all these examples of “until the time” (in 2 Nephi 5:19). This editing is, of course, stylistic and was not continued.
