In both the original and printer’s manuscripts, Oliver Cowdery initially wrote “And now it came to pass that some years had passed away there came a man among the people of Nephi”. There was
obviously some error here, which Oliver corrected by supralinearly inserting in both manuscripts the word after. Not only is the correction in both manuscripts with the same heavier ink
flow, but it is awkwardly inserted with an unsteady hand in 𝓞. This change appears to be Oliver’s emendation of the text, and the insertion in both manuscripts seems to have taken place when
Oliver produced the printer’s manuscript. So the question is whether his emendation is in fact correct.
Elsewhere the current Book of Mormon text has examples similar to Oliver Cowdery’s emendation here in Jacob 7:1; all of these examples are found in 4 Nephi and Mormon, although in two of these
cases (each marked below with an asterisk) the original text also had a Hebraistic and between a preceding parenthetical clause and the following independent clause:
- 4 Nephi 1:27
- and it came to pass that when two hundred and ten years had passed away there were many churches in the land
- 4 Nephi 1:45
- and it came to pass that when three hundred years had passed away both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceeding wicked
- 4 Nephi 1:47 (the printer’s manuscript has an & before Amos)
- and it came to pass that after three hundred and five years had passed away
—and the people did still remain in wickedness— [& 1| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] Amos died
- 4 Nephi 1:48
- and it came to pass that when three hundred and twenty years had passed away Ammaron being constrained by the Holy Ghost did hide up the records
- Mormon 3:4 (the printer’s manuscript has an & before the king )
- and it came to pass that after this tenth year had passed away
—making in the whole three hundred and sixty years from the coming of Christ—
[& 1| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] the king of the Lamanites sent an epistle unto me
- Mormon 6:5
- and when three hundred and eighty and four years had passed away we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land Cumorah
But the Book of Mormon text uses another way to describe events after the passage of time. This alternative is found throughout the small plates of Nephi and even a few times in Mormon’s
abridgment of the large plates; it is basically of the form “x years have passed away and something happened”:
- 2 Nephi 5:28–29
- and thirty years had passed away from the time we left Jerusalem and I Nephi had kept the records upon my plates
- 2 Nephi 5:34
- and it sufficeth me to say that forty years had passed away and we had already had wars and contentions with our brethren
- Jacob 5:29
- and it came to pass that a long time had passed away and the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his servant …
- Enos 1:25–26
- and an hundred and seventy and nine years had passed away from the time that our father Lehi left Jerusalem and as I saw that I must soon go down to my grave …
- Jarom 1:5
- and now behold two hundred years had passed away and the people of Nephi had waxed strong in the land
- Omni 1:3
- and it came to pass that two hundred and seventy and six years had passed away and we had many seasons of peace
- Omni 1:3
- yea and in fine two hundred and eighty and two years had passed away and I had kept these plates
- Omni 1:5
- behold it came to pass that three hundred and twenty years had passed away and the more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed
- 3 Nephi 1:1
- Now it came to pass that the ninety and first year had passed away and it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem
- 4 Nephi 1:14
- yea even an hundred years had passed away and the disciples of Jesus whom he had chosen had all gone to the paradise of God save it were the three which should tarry
- 4 Nephi 1:40
- and it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away and thus were the affairs of the people
- Mormon 4:10
- and it came to pass that the three hundred and sixty and sixth year had passed away and the Lamanites came again upon the Nephites to battle
In other words, excluding Jacob 7:1, the small plates of Nephi have only examples of this second type of expression, which implies that for Jacob 7:1 the original text probably read without a
subordinate conjunction. Further, it would have been much easier for Oliver Cowdery, when copying down Joseph Smith’s dictation, to have accidentally omitted an and (written as an
ampersand) than to have dropped out a subordinate conjunction like after. In fact, there is no example of Oliver Cowdery ever omitting the subordinate conjunction after in the
manuscripts, but there are dozens of cases where he omitted the and, sometimes only momentarily. Here are two nearby examples:
- 2 Nephi 30:3
- [NULL > & 1|And ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] now I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles
- Omni 1:17
- and their language had become corrupted and they had brought no records with them and they denied the being of their Creator [NULL >+ & 1|and
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] Mosiah
—nor the people of Mosiah— could not understand them
All of this evidence suggests the following emendation:
- Jacob 7:1 (emended)
- And now it came to pass that some years had passed away and there came a man among the people of Nephi whose name was Sherem
