Ether 7:22–23 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
wherefore Shule did bestow great favors upon him [inthewhich 0|in the which >js and 1|in the which A|and BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] he did do in the kingdom of Shule according to his desires and also in the reign of Shule there came prophets among the people which were sent from the Lord prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bringing a curse upon the land [inthewhich 0|inthewhich >js and 1|in the which A|and BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] they should be destroyed if they did not repent

In this passage we have two instances of original “in the which” that Joseph Smith emended to and in his editing for the 1837 edition. Normally, Joseph emended “in the which” by simply omitting the definite article the. But sometimes in the book of Ether his changes were a little more substantial. The critical text will, of course, restore the two original instances of “in the which” here in Ether 7:22–23. Joseph edited nearly half the original occurrences of this phrase— and most of the edited ones were in the book of Ether. For a brief discussion of this editing, see under 1 Nephi 3:2; also see the addendum for 1 Nephi 3:2 at the end of this part of volume 4. For a complete listing of all the original instances of this phrase in the text and which ones were edited (and to what), see under in the which in volume 3.

Summary: Restore the original two instances of “in the which” in Ether 7:22–23; this phrase was quite common in the original text.

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

References