Alma 54:6 Textual Variants

The 1849 LDS edition replaced something with somewhat, probably by accident; this secondary reading has continued in the LDS text. In the previous verse, there is an instance of somewhat, which seems to have prompted the change in verse 6:

• Alma 54:5
  • behold Ammoron I have wrote unto you somewhat concerning this war which ye have waged against my people

Also notice that in both verses the word somewhat /something is followed by concerning.

Elsewhere in the text, there is one other occurrence of “tell somewhat”, but none of “tell something”:

• Alma 56:2
  • behold my beloved brother I have somewhat to tell you concerning our warfare in this part of the land

Nonetheless, one can “tell a thing”, as in Helaman 14:9: “thus hath the Lord commanded me by his angel that I should come and tell this thing unto you”. Moreover, one can “tell things” (28 times in the text), for instance, nearby in Alma 54:7: “yea I would tell you these things if ye were capable of hearkening unto them”. The use of things in verse 7 is directly connected with the use of something here in verse 6: “behold I would tell you something concerning the justice of God”.

So there is really nothing inappropriate about something being told in Alma 54:6. In fact, the use of something implies that Moroni has a specific piece of information to convey to Ammoron. On the other hand, somewhat implies an impreciseness that is inappropriate for this letter of Moroni’s. But in Alma 56:2 (cited above), Helaman uses somewhat because he doesn’t intend to tell Moroni everything that has been going on in the war being waged in that other part of the land.