2 Nephi 28:15 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
O the wise and the learned and the rich [ 1|, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts and all they that preach false doctrines and all they that commit whoredoms and pervert the right way of the Lord woe woe woe be unto them saith the Lord God Almighty for they shall be thrust down to hell

The 1830 typesetter placed a comma after “the rich”, which could lead the reader to think that the wise and the learned and the rich are all proud. In earlier English, the relative pronoun that could be used restrictively (as in current English) and nonrestrictively. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (under that 1) cites nonrestrictive examples from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (“Fleance his son, that keeps him company”) and Oliver Goldsmith (“Age, that lessens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of living”). This source also gives citations of nonrestrictive that in literature from the 1800s, so it is theoretically possible that the relative pronoun that here in 2 Nephi 28:15 could be interpreted as nonrestrictive.

Even so, the relative pronoun that here in “that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts” is restrictive: the Lord doesn’t condemn all the wise and the learned and the rich, only those that are proud. Note, for instance, Jacob’s clarification in 2 Nephi 9:29: “but to be learned is good if it so be that they hearken unto the counsels of God”. Thus the comma should be removed from before this particular that in the standard text for 2 Nephi 28:15. We note, in particular, that the 1830 typesetter did not, of course, place commas before the that’s in the two following relative clauses in 2 Nephi 28:15 (“and all they that preach false doctrines and all they that commit whoredoms and pervert the right way of the Lord”).

This same use of a restrictive relative pronoun is found in a similar passage from Jacob’s discourse earlier in this book:

Just as in 2 Nephi 28:15, the 1830 typesetter placed a comma before the relative pronoun which. This punctuation has been retained in all the printed editions, but the critical text will interpret the relative pronoun here as restrictive rather than nonrestrictive.

Summary: Remove the comma before the restrictive that in 2 Nephi 28:15 (“O the wise and the learned and the rich that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts”); similarly, the relative pronoun which in 2 Nephi 9:42 should be interpreted as restrictive (“they that are rich which are puffed up because of their learning and their wisdom and their riches”).

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

References