2 Nephi 31:19 Textual Variants

The grammatical question here is whether got or gotten should be the past participle for the verb get. Related to this issue is whether or not the meaning of the verb get involves change. For instance, an original “he has got the plates” (see the statement of the eight witnesses cited below) could mean either ‘he has possession of the plates’ (a static situation) or ‘he has obtained the plates’ (a dynamic situation). In the latter case, got could be replaced by gotten.

The choice between got and gotten is one that grammarians have discussed at some length. In American English, got is typically used when possession is involved (a static condition) and gotten when something has been obtained (a dynamic condition). For discussion, see got, gotten in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage.

The original Book of Mormon text had only the shortened past participial forms got and gat; there were no instances of gotten. (For discussion of the possibility of gat, see Alma 47:5 and Alma 55:2.) For three cases involving the dynamic meaning, Joseph Smith (in his editing for the 1837 edition) replaced got with gotten. Besides the one here in 2 Nephi 31:19, we have two other examples of Joseph Smith changing got to gotten, one of which was marked in the printer’s manuscript:

• Alma 8:9
  • now Satan had [got >js gotten 1|got A|gotten BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] great hold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah
• Helaman 3:36
  • and it came to pass that the fifty and second year ended in peace also save it were the exceeding great pride which had [got 1A|gotten BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] into the hearts of the people

Yet in 11 other instances, some of which are clearly dynamic (each marked below with an asterisk), got has been left unchanged in the standard text:

• eight-witness statement
  • the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken
• 2 Nephi 29:3
  • a Bible a Bible we have got a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible
• 2 Nephi 29:6
  • a Bible we have got a Bible and we need no more Bible
• Alma 10:25
  • why hath Satan got such great hold upon your hearts
• * Alma 16:21
  • and now after the church having been established throughout all the land having got the victory over the devil …
• Alma 47:5 (the original manuscript may be read as either got or gat;
  • in the 1911 LDS edition, got was changed to gotten)
    and now he had [got / gat 0|got 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRST|gotten Q] the command of those parts of the Lamanites which were in favor of the king
• Alma 55:2 (the original manuscript has gat )
  • for I will not grant unto him that he shall have any more power than what he hath [gat 0|got 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
• Alma 61:8
  • they have got possession of the land or the city of Zarahemla
• *Helaman 6:31
  • and now behold he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites yea insomuch that they had become exceeding wicked
• Helaman 7:14
  • yea because I have got upon my tower that I might pour out my soul unto my God
• Helaman 7:15
  • the devil hath got so great hold upon your hearts

In fact, three of these unchanged examples parallel one of the changed examples—namely, the ones that refer to “getting great hold upon the hearts of X”:

• edited: Alma 8:9
• unedited: Alma 10:25, Helaman 6:31, Helaman 7:15

This comparison clearly demonstrates the uneven nature of the editing for the past participle got in the Book of Mormon text. In many cases, the (potentially) dynamic got has simply been left unchanged. Some of the unchanged dynamic cases could be changed to gotten, but the problem is that some of these cases are ambiguous (see, for instance, Alma 55:2 and Alma 61:8), with the result that the editor would be forced to determine if the verb here was static or dynamic in meaning.

For a complete discussion of got (and gat) versus gotten, see past participle in volume 3. Also see under past tense in volume 4 for additional discussion of the form gat (and the related archaic past-tense form forgat).