Alma 3:7 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and the Lord God set a mark upon them yea upon Laman and Lemuel and also the sons of Ishmael and [the 1APS| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT] Ishmaelitish women

The 1837 edition deleted the definite article the before “Ishmaelitish women”. This deletion was most probably a typo since the resultant reading is quite awkward. The 1908 RLDS edition restored the the to the RLDS text. Here in Alma 3:7, the critical text will follow the reading of the printer’s manuscript. The English language virtually requires the definite article in this context. A similar example is found in Alma 19:16: “even until they had all fallen to the earth save it were one of the Lamanitish women whose name was Abish” (although here the definite article is clearly required because of the preceding one of ).

Summary: Restore the definite article the in Alma 3:7: “yea upon Laman and Lemuel and also the sons of Ishmael and the Ishmaelitish women”.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 3

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