1 Nephi 21:10 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of [water 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|waters 1] shall he guide them

Isaiah 49:10 (King James Bible)

for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them

The original Hebrew here literally reads “the springs of waters”, but the King James Bible has the singular water. When copying from 𝓞 to 𝓟, Oliver Cowdery accidentally pluralized water to waters, thus creating a Hebraism! He was probably influenced by the plurality of the preceding springs. In any event, the 1830 compositor set the expected singular; he may have also referenced his King James Bible to make sure that water was correct.

Summary: Maintain the singular water in “the springs of water”, the reading of 𝓞 and the King James Bible (even though the original Hebrew actually has the plural waters).

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

References