2 Nephi 17:14–15 Textual Variants

Isaiah 7:14–15 (King James Bible) behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good

Once more the Book of Mormon text shows increased parallelism over the corresponding Isaiah passage in the King James Bible. First, in verse 14, the Book of Mormon has “shall conceive and shall bear … and shall call”, a multiple repetition of the modal auxiliary shall. There are two similar examples of such extensions of shall later on in this long Isaiah quotation:

• (1) 2 Nephi 20:17
  • and the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his Holy One for a flame and shall burn and shall devour his thorns and his briars in one day
• Isaiah 10:17 (King James Bible)
  • and the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his Holy One for a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day
• (2) 2 Nephi 24:16
  • they that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and shall consider thee and shall say ...
• Isaiah 14:16 (King James Bible)
  • they that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying ...

A second case of increased parallelism in 2 Nephi 17:15 involves the repetition of the infinitive marker to (“to refuse … and to choose”). Such examples of increased parallelism appear to be intentional and will be maintained in the critical text.