3 Nephi 28:36 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and now behold as I spake concerning them whom the [Lord had 1ABCDEGHIJKLNPS|had Lord F|Lord hath MOQRT] chosen

Here the 1905 Chicago edition replaced the past perfect auxiliary had with the present perfect hath; the error was very likely a typo on the part of the compositor for that edition. He was probably influenced by the use of the present perfect hath two verses earlier:

Elsewhere in this part of the Book of Mormon text, when referring to these twelve disciples of Christ, we always get had for the expression “the disciples whom Jesus had chosen” (or its equivalent): there are ten examples (eight in 3 Nephi, plus one in 4 Nephi 1:14 and another in Moroni 2:1). There are four other examples in the present perfect, but these are all in the first person singular, with Jesus himself speaking; here the expression takes the form “the disciples whom I have chosen” (or its equivalent).

Here in 3 Nephi 28:36, the secondary reading with hath has continued in the LDS text. The critical text will, of course, restore the original had here in 3 Nephi 28:36. (We also note here that the compositor for the 1852 LDS edition mixed up the order of had and Lord, setting the impossible “the had Lord”.)

Summary: Restore in 3 Nephi 28:36 the original had in “concerning them whom the Lord had chosen”, the reading of the earliest textual sources.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 6

References