2 Nephi 13:14 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
for ye have eaten up the vineyard and the spoil of the poor in your houses

Isaiah 3:14 (King James Bible) for ye have eaten up the vineyard the spoil of the poor is in your houses

In this verse, the Book of Mormon text lacks the italicized is of the King James text. The original Hebrew also lacks a be verb, which is why the King James translators italicized the is that they supplied here. There are similar examples involving the omission of an italicized form of the be verb elsewhere in this long Book of Mormon quotation from Isaiah 2–14 (covering 2 Nephi 12–24). In later editing of the Book of Mormon text, the King James form of the be verb has usually been supplied, as in these examples:

In each of these examples, the original reading without the be verb will, of course, be retained in the critical text. Even though the result is strikingly ungrammatical for English, the fact that the omission is quite consistent implies that these cases in the original Book of Mormon text without the be verb are definitely intended despite their unacceptability for English speakers.

Summary: Maintain in 2 Nephi 13:14 the earliest text without the be verb; it would appear that the King James italicized is before “in your houses” was intentionally omitted in the Book of Mormon text.

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

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