3 Nephi 7:11 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
nevertheless they were enemies [ 1|, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|; RT] notwithstanding they were not a righteous people [ 1|; ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|, RT] yet they were united in the hatred of those who had entered into a covenant to destroy the government

As suggested under Alma 17:15, the notwithstanding-clause here in 3 Nephi 7:11 belongs with the following text rather than with the preceding text. The first line refers to these various tribes being enemies to each other, with verse 14 explaining that they had nonetheless refrained from going to war against each other (“nevertheless they had come to an agreement that they would not go to war with one another”). Moreover, there is no opposing relationship between being enemies and not being righteous, while unrighteous people could be united in opposing those who sought to destroy the government. The 1830 typesetter placed a semicolon after the notwithstanding-clause, but the editors for the 1920 LDS edition moved it to the front of that clause. The critical text will maintain the 1920 emendation in the punctuation.

Summary: Maintain in 3 Nephi 7:11 the punctuation introduced in the 1920 LDS edition; this revision made the notwithstanding-clause belong to the following clause, not to the preceding one, thus providing the correct interpretation for the larger passage.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 5

References