Alma 13:5 Textual Variants

In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith interpreted the relative pronoun which here in Alma 13:5 as referring to the Only Begotten Son rather than to the preceding the atonement. There is one similar instance where Joseph interpreted the relative pronoun which as referring to Christ rather than to the plan of redemption:

• Mosiah 18:13
  • and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you and may he grant unto you eternal life through the redemption of Christ [which >js whom 1|which A|whom BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] he hath prepared from the foundation of the world

Yet quite a few passages elsewhere in the text refer to the atonement or the plan of redemption as being prepared from the beginning:

• Mosiah 4:6
  • if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God and his matchless power and his wisdom and his patience and his long-suffering towards the children of men and also the atonement which hath been prepared from the foundation of the world …
• Mosiah 4:7
  • this is the man that receiveth salvation through the atonement `which was prepared from the foundation of the world
• Mosiah 15:19
  • for were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people which was prepared from the foundation of the world
• Alma 12:30
  • therefore God conversed with men and made known unto them the plan of redemption which had been prepared from the foundation of the world
• Alma 18:39
  • for he expounded unto them the plan of redemption which was prepared from the foundation of the world
• Alma 22:13
  • and Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of Adam laying the fall of man before him and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption which was prepared from the foundation of the world through Christ

There is one passage, however, where Christ clearly refers to himself as being prepared to redeem the world:

• Ether 3:14
  • behold I am he [which >js who 1|which A|who BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people

Thus either interpretation is possible in Mosiah 18:13 and Alma 13:5. My own inclination, however, is that the original which in both Mosiah 18:13 and Alma 13:5 refers to the plan itself. Of course, the critical text will restore the original which in both passages, thus allowing us to avoid deciding in these two cases the antecedent for the which. For further discussion, see under which in volume 3.