Alma 17:34 Textual Variants

The 1830 typesetter deleted the perfective had, probably by accident. Elsewhere in the text, after “did (do) … as” and before commanded, used in the active, there are six occurrences with had and two without:

• 1 Nephi 2:3 wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him
• 1 Nephi 2:14 wherefore they did do as he commanded them
• Jacob 5:70 and the servant went and did as the Lord had commanded him
• Omni 1:13 he did according as the Lord had commanded him
• Mosiah 1:18 Mosiah went and did as his father had commanded him
• 3 Nephi 26:20 they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them
• Mormon 3:16 and I did even as the Lord had commanded me
• Ether 2:21 the brother of Jared did so according as the Lord had commanded

(Also see the discussion under Omni 1:13, where the had was momentarily lost when copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟.) Since either reading (with or without the had ) is possible, the critical text will accept in Alma 17:34 the reading with the had (the reading of the earliest extant source, the printer’s manuscript).