Helaman 5:49 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and they were [bid 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|bidden RT] to go forth

Here the past participle for the verb bid is bid rather than the standard bidden. The 1920 LDS edition made the change to bidden. The only other past-participial form for this verb is the standard bidden (in 2 Nephi 4:25). The past-participial form bid is presumably based on a simple past-tense form bid, which does not occur at all in the text. Instead, the text has five instances of the standard (although archaic) simple past-tense form bade. The Oxford English Dictionary lists bid as an acceptable simple past-tense form for the verb bid; in fact, the OED also lists bid as an acceptable past-participial form. The critical text will, of course, restore the original pastparticipial bid here in Helaman 5:49.

Summary: Restore in Helaman 5:49 the original bid, a past-participial form for the verb bid.

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

References