3 Nephi 14:13–14 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
enter ye in at the [strait 1OQRST|straight ABCDEFGHIJKLMNP] gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat because [strait 1OQRT|straight ABCDEFGHIJKLMNP|stait S] is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it

Matthew 7:13–14 (King James Bible) enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it

In the manuscripts, the scribes (including Oliver Cowdery) almost always spelled strait and straight identically, namely, as strait. On the other hand, the 1830 typesetter consistently spelled both words as straight. Here in this passage, the correct word is strait, meaning ‘narrow’. Both the current LDS and RLDS editions have the correct strait, the King James reading (the word in the original Greek means ‘narrow’). Obviously, the wide gate opposes the strait gate, just as the broad way opposes the narrow way. For a summary discussion regarding strait versus straight in the Book of Mormon text, see under 1 Nephi 8:20.

Summary: Maintain both instances of strait in 3 Nephi 14:13–14; the correct meaning here, as in Matthew 7:13–14, is ‘narrow’.

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

References