2 Nephi 18:8 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and he shall pass through Judah [ 1ABCDEFGHIJLMNOQRT|and KPS] he shall overflow and go over he shall reach even to the neck

Isaiah 8:8 (King James Bible) and he shall pass through Judah he shall overflow and go over he shall reach even to the neck

The 1892 RLDS text accidentally added an and here. For some reason this extra and has continued in the RLDS text. The tendency to supply the and is fairly strong, especially given the extensive use of the connective and in the Book of Mormon text proper. Interestingly, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia notes that many Hebrew manuscripts also have an and at this point. But the earliest textual source for the Book of Mormon (the printer’s manuscript) reads without the and and is therefore in agreement with the King James text. For other examples of the tendency for the editions to insert extra and ’s in the Isaiah quotations, see 2 Nephi 16:2 and 2 Nephi 23:14.

Summary: Maintain the lack of a connective and at the beginning of “he shall overflow”, in agreement with the King James text.

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

References