2 Nephi 24:26 Textual Variants

Isaiah 14:26 (King James Bible) and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations

Here the original manuscript is extant for the phrase “upon all nations”, and the King James the is definitely missing before nations. The original Hebrew has the definite article in front of nations. It is, of course, possible that the the was lost as Oliver Cowdery took down Joseph Smith’s dictation.

Both “all nations” and “all the nations” occur fairly frequently in the King James version of the entire book of Isaiah (6 times without the the, 7 times with the the). In the earliest text of the Book of Mormon, we have 28 occurrences of “all nations” and 17 of “all the nations”. When we consider the prepositional phrase “upon all (the) nations”, we find that we get “upon all nations” whenever there is no postmodification, but “upon all the nations” when there is:

no postmodification:

• 2 Nephi 12:12
  • for the day of the Lord of Hosts soon cometh upon all nations yea upon every one
• 2 Nephi 24:26–27
  • and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations for the Lord of Hosts hath purposed …
• 2 Nephi 25:3
  • that they come upon all nations according to the word which he hath spoken

postmodification:

• 2 Nephi 12:14
  • and upon all the nations which are lifted up
• 2 Nephi 29:7
  • yea even upon all the nations of the earth
• 3 Nephi 20:20
  • yea even upon all the nations of the Gentiles

It should also be noted that “upon all the nations” in Isaiah 14:26 is exceptional, even for the King James Bible. In two other cases, the King James Bible has “upon all nations” with no postmodification, including one in Isaiah:

• 1 Chronicles 14:17
  • and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations
• Isaiah 34:2
  • for the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations

In fact, the Hebrew for “upon all (the) nations” in these two passages is identical to that of Isaiah 14:26; that is, the definite article is there, yet the King James translators correctly ignored the the in their English translation for these two cases lacking postmodification. Thus the Book of Mormon’s lack of the the for Isaiah 14:26 is actually consistent with how this prepositional phrase was translated in the rest of the King James Bible—namely, without the definite article the. The critical text will therefore maintain the reading of the original manuscript, without the the in the prepositional phrase “upon all nations”.