2 Nephi 12:8 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
their land [also is 1ABCDEGHKPS|is also FIJLMNOQRT] full of idols

Isaiah 2:8 (King James Bible) their land also is full of idols

Ever since the 1852 edition, the LDS text has had the order “is also”, which is more natural for English. The 1852 change, however, was most probably a typo rather than due to conscious editing since the very same original word order (“also is”) was left unchanged at the beginning of verse 7 (“their land also is full of silver and gold”). In the middle of verse 7, however, we have a legitimate example of the expected word order (“their land is also full of horses”). It is possible that this instance of “is also” prompted the 1852 compositor to set “is also” in the following verse, 2 Nephi 12:8.

Summary: Restore in 2 Nephi 12:8 the word order “also is” in “their land also is full of idols”, which is in agreement with the earliest textual sources and the King James reading.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 2

References