2 Nephi 15:26–27 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
[ 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT|97 PS] none shall be weary nor stumble among them [ 1ABCDEFGHKPS|27 IJLMNOQRT] none shall slumber nor sleep neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor the latchet of their shoes be broken

Isaiah 5:27 (King James Bible) none shall be weary nor stumble among them none shall slumber nor sleep neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor the latchet of their shoes be broken

Except for two verse divisions (the other is discussed below), Orson Pratt made his 1879 Book of Mormon verse divisions agree with the Isaiah verse divisions found in the King James Bible. In the LDS Church’s Historical Department, there are three pre-1879 copies of the Book of Mormon marked up with Pratt’s versification (apparently all three are in his own hand). All three copies are later printings from the corrected stereotyped plates of the 1852 LDS edition (these plates were corrected for the second 1852 printing of that edition). Two of these copies (1854 #2 and 1874 #2) show the verse break in the right place (namely, before the first “none shall” and in agreement with the King James Bible), but the third copy (1876 #2) has verse 27 begin with the second “none shall”. This is an obvious error, resulting from the fact that both clauses begin with the same words (“none shall”). Apparently, Orson Pratt’s eye skipped down as he marked the verse number here, and thus he ended up accidentally marking the wrong verse division in his third copy. Because this 1876 #2 copy was the copy-text used by the 1879 printer (it is full of printer’s ink, including fingerprints, and is cut in various places), an incorrect verse division entered the 1879 edition and has been followed by every subsequent LDS edition.

The only other difference in versification for the Isaiah passages is for verse 29 in this chapter, but in this instance the difference can be justified. In fact, the 1892 and 1908 RLDS versifications agree here with Orson Pratt’s 1879 versification (and against the King James versification):

The Book of Mormon text omits the words shall be (italicized in the King James text), thus making “their roaring like a lion” parallel to the preceding “and their wheels like a whirlwind”; therefore both clauses can be placed in the same verse. The King James translation, on the other hand, with the added words shall be, makes the resulting clause (“their roaring shall be like a lion”) parallel to the following clause (“they shall roar like young lions”). Thus the King James versification allows for these two parallel clauses to remain together. But the change in versification for 2 Nephi 15:28–29 is a natural consequence of the omission of the words shall be in the Book of Mormon text.

Summary: Revise the division between verses 26 and 27 in the LDS text for 2 Nephi 15 so that verse 27 begins with “none shall be weary nor stumble among them”, which is what Orson Pratt actually intended (and which agrees with the King James Bible versification); on the other hand, the current division between verses 28–29 in the LDS text (and between verses 98–99 in the RLDS text) appears to be intended.

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

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