Alma 43:17 Textual Variants

Here we have one of the clearest examples showing that the 16-page signature (number 22) for the 1830 edition was proofed against 𝓞 rather than against 𝓟. The original manuscript is extant here and reads commander (the initial c is capitalized). When Oliver Cowdery copied from 𝓞 into 𝓟, he replaced commander with captain, probably accidentally. He was undoubtedly influenced by the two occurrences of chief captain in the preceding verse, both in reference to Moroni:

• Alma 43:16
  • now the leader of the Nephites or the man which had been appointed to be the chief captain over the Nephites —now the chief captain took the command of all the armies of the Nephites— and his name was Moroni

For a summary of the evidence that the 1830 edition was here proofed against 𝓞, see the discussion under Alma 42:31.

For the 1837 edition, the incorrect reading in 𝓟, chief captain, was restored to the text. This change was the result of the fact that 𝓟 rather than 𝓞 was used as the reference text for the 1837 edition. All subsequent editions have followed this reading. Elsewhere in the text, chief captain (as a singular) occurs eight times (including the two instances in verse 16). But chief commander is also found elsewhere in the text:

• Alma 46:11 Moroni which was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites
• Alma 47:19 the Lamanites appointed Amalickiah to be their leader and their chief commander

So there is nothing wrong with the use of chief commander in Alma 43:17, especially since this same title is used once more in Alma 46:11 to refer to Moroni. The critical text will restore in Alma 43:17 the reading of the original manuscript, chief commander.