1 Nephi 13:14 Textual Variants

and I beheld the wrath of God that it was upon the seed of my brethren and they were scattered before the Gentiles and [they 0A|they >js NULL 1| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] were smitten

In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith removed the repeated subject pronoun they. Obviously, this kind of editing is unnecessary except from a stylistic point of view. Joseph soon discontinued most of his stylistic editing; consider the following unaltered examples found later on in the text:

Alma 25:12
- for they were driven by the Lamanites and they were hunted and they were smitten
Ether 2:16
- and they were small and they were light upon the water

Summary: Restore the repeated subject pronoun they in 1 Nephi 13:14; not only is it supported by the earliest textual sources, but the only reason for its removal was a question of style.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 1

References