2 Nephi 15:29 Textual Variants

Isaiah 5:29 (King James Bible) yea they shall roar and lay hold of the prey and shall carry it away safe and none shall deliver it

Here we have two examples where the Book of Mormon text omits the direct object pronoun it that is found in the corresponding Isaiah passage of the King James Bible. In this verse, both are italicized in the King James text since neither is found in the original Hebrew. This passage is not the only one in this long Isaiah quotation where a direct object it has been omitted:

• 2 Nephi 16:7 (Isaiah 6:7 has it in italics)
  • and he laid [ 1|it ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] upon my mouth
• 2 Nephi 17:11 (the it in Isaiah 7:11 is not in italics)
  • ask [ 1|it ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] either in the depths or in the heights above
• 2 Nephi 20:17 (the it before shall burn in Isaiah 10:17 is not in italics)
  • and shall burn and shall devour his thorns and his briars in one day
• 2 Nephi 24:27 (Isaiah 14:27 has it in italics)
  • and who shall disannul [it > NULL 0| 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [The original manuscript is not extant for “who shall disannul (it)”, but spacing between extant fragments of 𝓞 allows for an it (although it may have been crossed out); see the discussion under 2 Nephi 24:27.]

For the first two of these additional examples, the omitted it was supplied by the 1830 typesetter, probably by reference to his King James Bible. But in 2 Nephi 15:29, no it has ever been supplied in any edition. Here the critical text will follow the earliest textual reading, which has no direct object pronoun it after the verbs carry and deliver.

We should note that the Book of Mormon text does not omit every case of italicized direct object it found in Isaiah 2–14, as in the following nearby verse in 2 Nephi 15:

• 2 Nephi 15:19
  • let him make speed hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it
• Isaiah 5:19 (King James Bible)
  • let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it