and I behold I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins unto the fruit of thy loins
Ross Geddes (personal communication, 11 November 2004) suggests that in this verse the phrase a commandment may be missing after “I will give unto him”. In accord with usage elsewhere in
the text, Geddes notes that we expect some direct object complement in addition to the that- clause. Such an emendation, either a commandment or perhaps commandment
alone, could be supported by the following passages in this same chapter:
- 2 Nephi 3:7
- and unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins his brethren
- 2 Nephi 3:8
- and I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work save the work which I shall command him
Elsewhere the text has 14 more instances of “to give (a) commandment” followed by a that- clause that describes what that commandment is:
- Nephi 6:6 I shall give commandment unto my seed that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worth …
- Nephi 2:21 for he gave commandment that all men must repent
- Nephi 26:30 the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity
- Jacob 1:2 and he gave me Jacob a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things …
- Jacob 3:5 for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord which was given unto our father that they should have save it were one wife
- Jacob 3:9 a commandment I give unto you … that ye revile no more against them
- Nephi 4:6 Giddianhi gave commandment unto his armies that in this year they should go up to battle against the Nephites
- 3 Nephi 12:29 I give unto you a commandment that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart
- 3 Nephi 15:14 and not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it …
- 3 Nephi 15:15 neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them …
- 3 Nephi 18:12 and I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things
- 3 Nephi 18:28 this is the commandment which I give unto you that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake …
- 3 Nephi 23:1 a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently
- Ether 3:2 thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee
On the other hand, there are a few examples in the text of “to give unto someone” followed by a that- clause but without any specific direct object. In three of these cases, the
expression means ‘to allow or empower someone to do something’:
- 2 Nephi 2:16 the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself
- Helaman 14:31 he hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil
- Helaman 14:31 and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death
And it is this interpretation that works quite appropriately in 2 Nephi 3:18: the Lord gave Joseph Smith the power to obtain the words of the text. The word commandment is not necessary
here in 2 Nephi 3:18, and the critical text will retain the current reading.
Geddes also suggests that the repetitive “I behold I” is possibly a dittography. There are no other examples of this kind of repetition in the Book of Mormon text. And, in fact, there are two
momentary errors in 𝓟 that suggest Oliver Cowdery could have accidentally added an extra I before behold I, either as a misreading of a preceding and (which would have
been written as an ampersand in the original manuscript) or as the result of a momentary omission of the word behold:
- Mosiah 15:18
- [I > & 1|And ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] behold I say unto you …
- Alma 38:8
- but [I >% NULL 0| 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] behold
I did cry unto him
On the other hand, there is evidence for this usage “I behold I” in the biblical text; we have these five examples in the King James Bible:
- Genesis 9:9 and I behold I establish my covenant with you
Exodus 14:17 and I behold I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians
Exodus 31:6 and I behold I have given with him Aholiab
- Numbers 3:12 and I behold I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel
- Numbers 18:6 and I behold I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel
Note that all of these biblical examples have a preceding and, as does the example here in 2 Nephi 3:18, which argues that “and I behold I” is correct. The critical text will therefore
retain this instance of “I behold I” here in 2 Nephi 3:18, despite its uniqueness in the Book of Mormon text.
2 Nephi 3:20, pages 528–529
- For one more example where forth was initially lost in 𝓟, see under Alma 8:21. In that instance, scribe 2 of 𝓟 omitted the word, but Oliver Cowdery supplied it when he proofed 𝓟
against 𝓞.
2 Nephi 3:20–21, page 529, between lines 16 and 17
- Remove the line of space that divides the citation into two parts.
2 Nephi 3:24, page 530
- See under Alma 57:32 for additional examples in the original text of intransitive raise in the expression “to raise up in rebellion”.
