Alma 58:3 Textual Variants

As explained under Alma 44:11, the verb retain in the original text sometimes means ‘take back’ rather than ‘keep’. In fact, there are seven instances in the text where an original retain has been edited to regain (including this example in Alma 58:3). In each case, the meaning of the verb retain is indeed ‘regain’ (that is, ‘take back’).

The 1920 LDS edition is responsible for most of the seven instances of the change to regain, as here in Alma 58:3 and in the following four instances:

• Alma 59:3
  • insomuch that he might with ease maintain that part of the land which he had been so miraculously prospered in [retaining 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|regaining RT]
• Alma 60:24
  • that he may support those parts of our country which he hath [obtained >% retained 1|retained ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS| regained RT]
• Alma 62:30
  • and having [retained 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|regained RT] many of the Nephites which had been taken prisoners
• Helaman 4:9
  • and it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of the judges Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of the land yea they [retained 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|regained RT] many cities which had fallen into the hands of the Lamanites

Notice that in Alma 60:24 Oliver Cowdery initially wrote obtained in 𝓟, which he immediately corrected to retained (the correction involves erasure). 𝓞 undoubtedly read retained, despite the unusualness of its meaning here. Also notice that in Helaman 4:9 there is evidence that the verbs retain and obtain are semantically related since retain is used in the yea-clause that explains what has just been written (“Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of the land / yea they retained many cities which had fallen into the hands of the Lamanites”). Here the verb retain must mean ‘take back’ (or ‘regain’).

For the last two instances where retain has been emended to regain, two earlier 20th-century LDS editions introduced the emended reading with regain:

• Helaman 4:10 (1906 LDS large-print edition)
  • and it came to pass in the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in [retaining 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMPS|regaining NOQRT] even the half of all their possessions
• Helaman 4:16 (1907 LDS vest-pocket edition)
  • for when Moronihah saw that they did repent he did venture to lead them forth from place to place and from city to city even until they had [retained 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNPS|regained OQRT] the one-half of their property and the one-half of all their lands

There are also some examples of retain with the meaning ‘take back’ that have never been emended to regain or its equivalent:

• Alma 57:23
  • and we retained our city Cumeni and were not all destroyed by the sword nevertheless we had suffered great loss

Earlier, in Alma 57:12, the text indicates that the city of Cumeni had been retaken by the Nephites: “therefore they yielded up the city into our hands and thus we had accomplished our designs in obtaining the city Cumeni”.

• Helaman 13:31
  • and behold the time cometh that he curseth your riches that it becometh slippery that ye cannot hold them and in the days of your poverty ye cannot retain them

The word retain here can mean either ‘take back’ or ‘keep’. However, the following parallel example in Mormon 1:18 makes it fairly clear that here in Helaman 13:31 there is an intended contrast between holding (that is, keeping) one’s riches and trying to get them back (or “retain” them) when they are needed (“in the days of your poverty”).

• Mormon 1:18
  • and these Gaddianton robbers which were among the Lamanites did infest the land insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth and they became slippery because the Lord had cursed the land that they could not hold them nor retain them again

The negative conjunction nor and the added again shows the clear contrast between holding one’s treasures and getting them back again.

For another example of unedited retain with the meaning ‘take back’ (in Alma 44:12), see the discussion under Alma 44:11.

Here is an example that can be interpreted either way, as either ‘maintain’ or ‘take back’:

• Alma 61:9
  • I Parhoron do not seek for power save only to retain my judgment seat Parhoron, the chief judge, has been driven from Zarahemla, and Pachus has declared himself king. One could interpret retain here as meaning that Parhoron desires to get back the judgment seat or simply to keep it (since he is the lawfully elected chief judge). The verb retain is also used in Alma 51:7 when Parhoron wins his recall election: “and Parhoron retained the judgment seat”, and quite clearly in Alma 51 Parhoron never loses his judgment seat. Given this example, I would be inclined to interpret retain in Alma 61:9 as meaning ‘keep’.

For two other cases where retain may be interpreted as either ‘take back’ or ‘keep’, see under Alma 54:10 (there the instance of retain in Alma 58:10 is also discussed); for a third ambiguous case, see the discussion under Alma 44:11 regarding the meaning of retain in Alma 44:8.

Finally, there are some examples where retain could be interpreted as ‘take back’ but the context shows that it simply means ‘keep’:

• Alma 61:14
  • let us resist them with our swords that we may retain our freedom Although the Nephites are under strong attack, they still have their freedom. In several other places, Moroni refers to their desire to “maintain” their freedom and liberties; for instance, in Alma 46:28 (“all the people which were desirous to maintain their liberty”).
• Moroni 7:8
  • for behold if a man being evil giveth a gift / he doeth it grudgingly wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift

The context here implies that it would be as if the man never gave the gift in the first place—that is, as if he kept it.

To be sure, there are numerous instances in the text where retain definitely has the expected meaning ‘keep’, ‘maintain’, ‘hold back’, and so on, as in the following sampling:

• Jacob 1:11 the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name
• Mosiah 4:12 and always retain a remission of your sins
• Alma 4:18 but he retained the office of high priest unto himself
• Alma 11:25 when thou had it in thy heart to retain them [six onties] from me
• Alma 17:20 to slay them or to retain them in captivity
• Alma 20:24 and also that Lamoni may retain his kingdom
• Alma 24:13 let us retain our swords
• Alma 25:16 they did retain a hope through faith unto eternal salvation
• Alma 37:5 they [the plates of brass] must retain their brightness
• Alma 37:27 I command you that ye retain all their oaths
• Alma 43:40 Lehi retained his armies upon the bank of the river Sidon
• Alma 52:8 that he should retain all the prisoners which fell into his hands
• Alma 59:10 he retained all his force to maintain those places

The critical text will maintain or restore, as the case may be, each instance of original retain, no matter whether its meaning is ‘keep’, ‘maintain’, ‘hold back’, ‘take back’, ‘regain’, or some other related meaning.