1 Nephi 5:21 Textual Variants

The earliest textual sources have the singular record, but the context uses the plural pronouns they and them to refer to this record. (The plural pronoun is also found in the following verse: “wherefore it was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us”). This repeated plural usage suggests that perhaps the singular record is a scribal error for the plural records. As noted under 1 Nephi 4:5, scribe 3 of 𝓞 tended to accidentally drop the plural s, so perhaps this is one more example of that tendency. For the 1852 LDS edition, record was emended to records, and the LDS text has followed this plural reading ever since.

There is specific evidence that the Book of Mormon scribes had problems choosing between record and records:

• Omni 1:9 (Oliver Cowdery, in 𝓟)
  • and after this manner we keep
    the [records >% record 1|records ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
• Mosiah 1:6 (Oliver Cowdery, in 𝓟)
  • and behold also the plates of Nephi which contain
    the [record > records 1|records ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    and the sayings of our fathers
• Alma 18:36 (Oliver Cowdery, in 𝓟)
  • he began … and laid before him
    the [record > records 1|records ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    and the holy scriptures of the people
• Alma 45:2 (Oliver Cowdery, in 𝓞)
  • believest thou the words which I spake unto thee concerning
    those [Reckord 0|reckords 1|records ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    which have been kept
• Helaman preface (Oliver Cowdery, in 𝓟)
  • according to
    the [Reckord 0|Records >% Record 1|record ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    of Helaman and his sons
• Helaman 3:15 (Oliver Cowdery, in 𝓞)
  • but behold there are many books
    and many [Reckord > Reckords 0|records 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    of every kind
• Nephi 23:7 (scribe 2 of 𝓟)
  • bring forth
    the [𝓢① Records > 𝓢② Record 1|record ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    which ye have kept
• Nephi 1:49 (scribe 2 of 𝓟)
  • and thus is the end of the [records >% record 1|record
    ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] of Ammaron
• Mormon 7:8 (scribe 2 of 𝓟, two times)
  • not only in this [records >% record 1|record ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
    but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews
    which [records >% record 1|record ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] shall come
    from the Gentiles unto you

We note here that Oliver Cowdery made mistakes in both directions, while scribe 2 of 𝓟 tended to write the plural when the singular is intended. For further discussion, see each specific passage.

Despite the evidence for scribal error, there is opposing evidence that the text itself can switch between the singular and plural when referring to “the record(s)”. In particular, the writer may switch to a plural pronoun after referring to “the record” since that record would have been written on plates. (Of course, the text always refers to plates in the plural, never to an individual plate.) In the following examples, one passage uses the singular pronoun it to refer to a plural records, but the other three passages use the plural pronoun they or them to refer to a singular record:

• 1 Nephi 13:23 (referring to the Bible in contrast to the plates of brass)
  • and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass
  • —save there are not so many—
  • nevertheless they contain the covenants of the Lord which he hath made unto the house of Israel
• Mosiah 12:8 (referring to the Book of Mormon record and its plates)
  • and it shall come to pass that except they repent
  • I will utterly destroy them from off the face of the earth yet they shall leave a record behind them and I will preserve them for other nations which shall possess the land yea even this will I do that I may discover the abominations of this people to other nations
• Mosiah 28:17 (referring to the Jaredite plates and the record on it)
  • now after Mosiah had finished translating these records behold it gave an account of the people which was destroyed
• Ether 15:33 (referring to the Jaredite record and its plates)
  • and he finished his record
  • —and the hundredth part I have not written—
  • and he hid them in a manner that the people of Limhi did find them

Part of the shifting in usage may also derive from the semantics of the word record. Often the singular record is used in a collective sense, while the plural records is used to refer to physical plates. The text sometimes switches from one to the other within the same passage, as in the instance when Jesus asked Nephi to get the Nephite record(s):

• 3 Nephi 23:7–8
  • and it came to pass that he saith unto Nephi bring forth the record which ye have kept and when Nephi had brought forth the records and laid them before him and he cast his eyes upon them and saith …

This passage involves some textual variation. See the discussion under 3 Nephi 23:7.