3 Nephi 26:13 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and after that he did shew himself unto them oft and did break bread oft and bless it and [give 1ABCDEFIJLMNOPQRST|gave GHK] it unto them

Here the 1858 Wright edition accidentally replaced the infinitive form give with the past-tense gave. The two subsequent RLDS editions followed this reading, but the 1908 RLDS edition restored the correct give. The original text here reads as a conjoining of three infinitive phrases: “break bread oft and bless it and give it unto them”. The did preceding break bread is not repeated since all three actions are performed as one; on the other hand, the preceding predicative conjunct has the did (“he did shew himself unto them oft”) since Jesus’s showing himself is a distinct action.

Summary: Maintain in 3 Nephi 26:13 the infinitive give, which helps to connect the three actions of breaking the bread, blessing it, and giving it out (as distinct from Christ showing himself to the people).

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 6

References