Paul Thomas (personal communication, 5 December 2003) wonders about the odd use of the expression “as it were” in this verse. One possibility is that the subordinate conjunction if is missing, so that the original text read “he spake unto us as if it were the voice of thunder”. Elsewhere in the text, there are nine examples of the expression “as if it were”.
Another possibility, suggested by Lyle Fletcher (personal communication, 21 April 2004), is that the preposition with is missing from this sentence, so that the original text read “he spake unto us as it were with the voice of thunder”. Support for this second emendation can be found in the earlier account of the conversion of Alma along with the sons of king Mosiah:
There is evidence elsewhere in the text in support of both these proposed emendations, either adding if or adding with. For instance, there is evidence in the printed history of the text (but not in the manuscripts) for the loss of the subordinate conjunction if (including one from the expression “as if it were”):
On the other hand, there is evidence in the manuscripts for the occasional loss of the preposition with, including these two examples by Oliver Cowdery:
When we consider the parenthetical phrase “as it were” elsewhere in the Book of Mormon text, we discover that in every case (12 times) the phrase could be removed without affecting the structure of the sentence, as in the following example that also deals with fire:
There is nothing ungrammatical about “and they saw angels descending out of heaven … in the midst of fire”. But this is not the case in Alma 36:7: if we remove “as it were”, the resulting sentence is ungrammatical: “and behold he spake unto us … the voice of thunder”. It is this difficulty which leads to the two proposals: either add if so that the phrase is no longer parenthetical or add with so that the parenthetical “as it were” can be omitted (thus “and behold he spake unto us ... with the voice of thunder”).
Despite these arguments regarding the parenthetical nature of “as it were” for the Book of Mormon text, there are examples in the King James Bible for which the loss of “as it were” leads to an unacceptable sentence:
These examples show that the use of “as it were” in Alma 36:7 is textually acceptable, even if it is difficult for modern readers. The critical text will therefore retain the occurrence of “as it were” in Alma 36:7 without adding either the subordinate conjunction if or the preposition with.
Summary: Maintain in Alma 36:7 the difficult reading “and behold he spake unto us as it were the voice of thunder”; although this usage is unique to the Book of Mormon text, similar examples of “as it were” can be found in the King James Bible; there is no need to insert either an if or a with in this sentence.