Alma 42:2 Textual Variants

The earlier part of this clause refers to “our first parents”, namely, Adam and Eve. But in the later part, the language directly quotes its biblical source:

Yet the larger biblical passage, although specifically mentioning only “the man”, is clearly applicable to both Adam and Eve: “behold the man is become as one of us … lest he put forth his hand … so he drove out the man” (Genesis 3:22, 24). But as David Calabro points out (personal communication), in the creation account in Genesis only Adam is specifically referred to as being taken out of the ground: “and the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7); Eve, on the other hand, is described as being created from a rib taken from the man: “and the rib which the LORD God had taken from man made he a woman” (Genesis 2:22). So the use of the singular he in Alma 42:2 is actually appropriate.

As noted under 2 Nephi 2:22, Adam and Eve can be referred to in the same Book of Mormon passage as both he and they. Here in Alma 42:2, we have one more instance of this switching in grammatical number. In his editing of this passage for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith emended the singular he was to the plural they were; this change is consistent with the plural language found one other place in the text: “they were driven out from the garden of Eden to till the earth” (2 Nephi 2:19). The critical text will, of course, restore the original singular he was in Alma 42:2; despite its difficulty, the switch in number from plural to singular is fully intended.