Helaman 2:1 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
therefore there began to be a contention [again 01ABCDEFGIJLMNOQRT| HKPS] among the people concerning who should fill the judgment seat

Here the earliest text has the word again in “there began to be a contention again among the people”. 𝓞 is extant for only the final n of again; 𝓟 and all the early editions have the again. The previous chapter (see Helaman 1:1–5) describes the original contention between three sons of Parhoron for the judgment seat, so the use of again here in Helaman 2:1 is fully appropriate.

The 1874 RLDS edition omitted the again here in Helaman 2:1, and the RLDS text has retained this shortened reading. (Normally the 1908 RLDS edition would have restored the again since that is the reading in 𝓟.) The 1874 edition shows a rather frequent tendency to omit again, twice in Alma 63:14–15 and once in Mormon 4:16. See under those passages for discussion.

Summary: Maintain the original occurrence of again in Helaman 2:1 (“there began to be a contention again among the people”); this is the second time in the book of Helaman where there has been a contention over the judgment seat.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 5

References