1 Nephi 19:13 Textual Variants

The 1920 LDS edition added the definite article the before power since “power and glory” are followed by a prepositional phrase “of the God of Israel”. English speakers expect the definite article in such a construction. We can accept “rejecting signs of the God of Israel” and “rejecting wonders of the God of Israel” since here we are dealing with plural nouns. But when the nouns are singular, the resulting “rejecting power of the God of Israel” and “rejecting glory of the God of Israel” sound strange without the definite article before power (or before glory, when it stands alone).

Nonetheless, the added the does create something of an anomaly by introducing a the in the middle of a conjoined list. When we look at other conjoined lists involving power and glory, we find that the determiner is usually missing. If the determiner is repeated, it is repeated before each conjoined noun. If the determiner occurs once, it occurs only at the beginning of a list of conjuncts:

• 1 Nephi 11:28
  • he went forth ministering unto the people in power and great glory
• Nephi 22:24
  • and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion and might and power and great glory
• Nephi 6:14
  • wherefore he will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory
• Nephi 33:11
  • for Christ will shew unto you with power and great glory that they are his words
• Alma 5:50 (his only at the beginning of a list)
  • yea the Son of God cometh in his glory in his might majesty power and dominion
• Alma 12:15 (his only at the beginning of a list)
  • we must come forth and stand before him in his glory and in his power and in his might majesty and dominion
• Nephi 13:13 (the before each conjoined noun, as in Matthew 6:13)
  • for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
• Moroni 7:35
  • and God will shew unto you with power and great glory at the last day that they are true

The two examples from Alma suggest another possible revision for 1 Nephi 19:13—namely, to introduce the definite article the right after rejecting so that the text would have the the only at the beginning of the list: “rejecting the signs and wonders and power and glory of the God of Israel”.

The critical text will reject the intrusive the added in the 1920 LDS edition, even though this the is what English readers expect. Adding the definite article at the front of the list is a more plausible emendation, as noted above. It is, of course, possible that Oliver Cowdery could have missed an initial the as he was copying down Joseph Smith’s dictation. However, other examples involving lists with power and glory do show that conjuncts of this type agree with respect to their determiners. There are no determiners throughout this long conjunct in 1 Nephi 19:13, just like in 1 Nephi 22:24. On the other hand, the example in 1 Nephi 22:24 is not postmodified by a prepositional phrase like “of the God of Israel”.