Jacob 5:37 Textual Variants

In Jacob 5:37, the tense for the verb behold was altered by the 1830 typesetter. The printer’s manuscript has the verb in the past tense, thou beheldest, which seems odd because the servant was observing the perishing right then and there (“it beginneth to perish”). Notice, for instance, that the surrounding verbs are in the present tense (the present perfect hath brought and the simple present beginneth). David Calabro also points out (personal communication) that the past-tense thou beheldest also seems incongruous with the previous statement of the servant three verses earlier:

• Jacob 5:34
  • and the servant saith unto his master behold because thou didst graft in the branches of the wild olive tree they have nourished the roots that they are alive and they have not perished wherefore thou beholdest that they are yet good

The 1830 typesetter seems to have noticed the incongruity with the surrounding and preceding text, with the result that the 1830 edition ended up with the present-tense thou beholdest.

The use of the present-tense thou beholdest is directly supported in three other places in the allegory of the olive tree. In each case, the surrounding verbs are in the present tense, again either the present perfect or the simple present:

• Jacob 5:22 and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit
• Jacob 5:34 wherefore thou beholdest that they are yet good
• Jacob 5:75 and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will

Moreover, there is evidence elsewhere in the original text supporting the present-tense form of the verb behold in a present-tense context:

• Alma 34:6
  • and ye also [behold 0|beheld 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] that my brother hath proven unto you in many instances that the word is in Christ unto salvation

This example from Alma 34:6 is particularly relevant for analyzing thou beheldest, the reading in 𝓟 for Jacob 5:37. The original manuscript is extant for Alma 34:6 and reads in the present tense (“ye also behold”). Moreover, the following clause has a present perfect form (“my brother hath proven”). Yet when Oliver Cowdery copied Alma 34:6 from 𝓞 into 𝓟, he accidentally replaced behold with beheld, thus ending up (as in Jacob 5:37) with precisely the same incongruous use of the past tense of the verb behold in a present-tense context.

Evidence elsewhere in the manuscripts shows that the scribes (especially Oliver Cowdery) frequently wrote the past-tense beheld in place of the correct behold:

• 1 Nephi 14:24 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • and [ 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|beheld > behold > NULL 1] behold the remainder shalt thou see
• 2 Nephi 9:44 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • [beheld > behold 1|Behold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] I take off my garments and I shake them before you
• Alma 39:17 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓞)
  • [beheld > behold 0|behold 1|Behold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] you marvel why these things should be known so long beforehand
• Alma 51:9 (Oliver Cowdery’s error in 𝓞)
  • but [Beheld 0|behold 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] this was a critical time for such contentions to be among the people of Nephi
• Alma 61:2 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • [beheld > behold 1|Behold APRST|behold BCDEFGHIJKLMNOQ] I say unto you Moroni that I do not joy in your great afflictions
• Alma 63:12 (Oliver Cowdery’s error in 𝓞)
  • now [beheld 0|behold 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] all those engravings which were in the possession of Helaman were written and sent forth among the children of men
• 3 Nephi 1:15 (Oliver Cowdery apparently wrote beheld in 𝓞; for this passage the 1830 edition was set from 𝓞)
  • for [he beheld 1|behold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] at the going down of the sun there was no darkness
• 3 Nephi 17:5 (either the 1830 typesetter misread behold as beheld, or Oliver Cowdery originally wrote beheld in 𝓞; the reading in 𝓟 is the correct one)
  • and it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude and [behold 1|beheld ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] they were in tears and did look steadfastly upon him
• 3 Nephi 19:30 (initial error in 𝓟 by scribe 2)
  • and it came to pass that when Jesus had spake these words he came again unto his disciples and [beheld > behold 1|behold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] they did pray steadfastly without ceasing unto him
• 3 Nephi 28:13 (initial error in 𝓟 by scribe 2)
  • and [beheld > behold 1|behoId A|behold BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] the heavens were opened

We should also note here that sometimes the scribes made errors in the opposite direction—that is, sometimes they incorrectly wrote behold instead of beheld:

• 1 Nephi 8:9 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • I [beheld 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|behold > beheld 1] a large and spacious field
• 1 Nephi 8:26 (Oliver Cowdery’s error in 𝓟)
  • and I also cast my eyes around about and [beheld 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|behold 1] on the other side of the river of water a great and spacious building
• 1 Nephi 15:27 (scribe 2’s initial error in 𝓞)
  • and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he [behold > beheld 0|beheld 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] not the filthiness of the water

The number of these examples is considerably less than the errors in the other direction.

All of this evidence strongly suggests that the reading “thou beheldest that it beginneth to perish”, the earliest extant reading for Jacob 5:37, is probably an error for “thou beholdest that it beginneth to perish”; the 1830 typesetter was correct to emend the past-tense beheldest to beholdest.