2 Nephi 4:26 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
O then if I have seen so great things if the Lord in his condescension unto [me > the 1|the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] children of men hath visited [me >jg me 1|men ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT|me PS] in so much mercy why should my heart weep

The 1830 compositor underlined me in the printer’s manuscript, probably to indicate an error (see the discussion of law versus Lord in 2 Nephi 2:26). He set the type to read men, but this is undoubtedly an error. The 1908 RLDS edition restored the original me.

Here the psalm of Nephi refers to Nephi’s own personal witness (as in the preceding clause “if I have seen so great things”). And Nephi did see the Lord, which would be a specific example of the Lord’s general condescension to the children of men. Note that Oliver Cowdery initially wrote “unto me” in 𝓟 (when he was copying “unto the children of men”), which implies that Oliver at least interpreted the me of “hath visited me” as standing for me and not men. In any event, the 1830 typesetter’s emendation is totally unnecessary and weakens the personal aspect of Nephi’s psalm.

Summary: Restore in 2 Nephi 4:26 the reading of the printer’s manuscript, “the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited me”.

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

References