Alma 13:16 Textual Variants

Scribe 2 of 𝓟 wrote “their ordinances”, which the 1830 printer set as “these ordinances”. In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith corrected the printer’s manuscript to read the same as the 1830 edition. The original manuscript is not extant here, but surviving fragments indicate that there or their would have occurred at the beginning of the line in 𝓞, a place where the tendency to make errors would have been greater. It is quite possible that scribe 2 misread these in 𝓞 as there, then mentally corrected the spelling there to their as he wrote down the word in 𝓟. The scribes, like all writers of English, would have been very much aware of their tendency to mix up the homophonous spellings of their and there, as well as the need to correct such errors:

there misspelled as their:

oliver cowdery (𝓞 + 𝓟) scribe 2 (𝓟) hyrum smith (𝓟)

with correction 3 = 2 + 1 2 0

without correction 8 = 2 + 6 1 3

with correction

28 = 23 + 5

0 1

without correction

9 = 7 + 2

1 0

their misspelled as there:

Moreover, there is considerable evidence that the scribes sometimes misread there as these:

• 2 Nephi 4:2 (Oliver Cowdery’s secondary error in 𝓟)
  • and the prophecies which he wrote [there > these > NULL 1| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] there are not many greater
• Alma 25:6 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓞)
  • therefore they began to disbelieve the traditions of their fathers and to believe in the Lord and that he gave great power unto the Nephites and thus [these > there 0|there 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] were many of them converted in the wilderness
• Helaman 3:19 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • and it came to pass that [there 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|these > there 1] was still great contentions in the land
• Helaman 5:37 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • and it came to pass that this man did cry unto the multitude that they might turn and look and behold [these > there 1|there ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] was power given unto them that they did turn and look
• Helaman 9:38–39 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • and he was brought to prove that he himself was the very murderer insomuch that the five were set at liberty and also was Nephi and [these > there 1|there ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] were some of the Nephites which believed on the words of Nephi
• 3 Nephi 23:9 (scribe 2’s initial error in 𝓟)
  • I commanded my servant Samuel the Lamanite that he should testify unto this people that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that [these >%+ there 1|there ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] were many saints which should arise from the dead …

(For an interesting example of the same misreading, but in the 1837 edition, see Mosiah 15:24.) There is also one example of misreading these as there in the manuscripts:

• Alma 30:24 (Oliver Cowdery’s initial error in both 𝓞 and 𝓟)
  • ye say that this people is a free people behold I say [there > these 0|there > they 1|they ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] are in bondage

From a contextual point of view, “these ordinances” is more plausible in Alma 13:16 than “their ordinances”. Two earlier references to ordinance in Alma 13 suggest that these ordinances are the Lord’s:

• Alma 13:8
  • now they were ordained after this manner : being called with a holy calling and ordained with a holy ordinance and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order which calling and ordinance and high priesthood is without beginning or end

On the other hand, “their ordinances” implies more of a human origin. Elsewhere the word ordinance(s) always refers, either directly or indirectly, to sacred ordinances that are associated with God (including the law of Moses), even when these ordinances are rejected (by Korihor in Alma 30:23 and by the house of Israel in 3 Nephi 24:14):

• 2 Nephi 25:30
  • ye must keep the performances and ordinances of God until the law shall be fulfilled which was given unto Moses
• Mosiah 13:30
  • therefore there was a law given them yea a law of performances and of ordinances a law which they were to observe strictly from day to day to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him
• Alma 30:3
  • yea and the people did observe to keep the commandments of the Lord and they were strict in observing the ordinances of God according to the law of Moses for they were taught to keep the law of Moses until it should be fulfilled
• Alma 30:23 (referring to the law of Moses)
  • and Korihor saith unto him because I do not teach the foolish traditions of your fathers and because I do not teach this people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down by ancient priests
• Alma 50:39
  • yea he was appointed chief judge and governor over the people with an oath and sacred ordinance to judge righteously
• 3 Nephi 24:7 (quoting Malachi 3:7)
  • even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them
• 3 Nephi 24:14 (quoting Malachi 3:14)
  • ye have said it is vain to serve God and what doth it profit that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts
• 4 Nephi 1:12
  • and they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God

Thus “their ordinances”, the earliest extant reading in Alma 13:16, appears to be an error, probably for “these ordinances”, the emended reading introduced in the 1830 edition. The critical text will accept that reading as the original reading (and also as the probable reading in 𝓞).