2 Nephi 25:5 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
yea [& 1|and ABCDEFIJLMNOPQRST| GHK] my soul delighteth in the words of Isaiah

The 1858 Wright edition accidentally omitted the and here in “yea and my soul delighteth”. The first two RLDS editions (1874 and 1892) followed this reading, but the 1908 RLDS edition restored the and (probably by reference to the printer’s manuscript). A similar example of this usage is found in Alma 36:22: “yea and my soul did long to be there”. There is nothing inappropriate about the original usage here in 2 Nephi 25:5.

The loss of and after yea has been fairly frequent in the history of the text, as exemplified by the following instances:

For additional discussion of the frequent use of “yea and” in the text, see 2 Nephi 9:5.

Summary: Maintain in 2 Nephi 25:5 the and in “yea and my soul delighteth”, the reading of the earliest textual sources.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 2

References