Mormon 5:17 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
yea they were [lead even 1|led even ABCDEFGHIJKLMNPQRST|even led O] by God the Father

The word order in the earliest text for this passage has the adverb even following the main verb led (spelled as lead in 𝓟), thus “they were led even by God”. The 1907 LDS edition changed the word order by moving the even before led (“they were even led by God”). That edition never served as a copytext, so no subsequent LDS edition has ever followed this change in word order. Either reading is theoretically possible. There is one example that supports the original reading here in Mormon 5:17, namely, a case where even follows a passive verb phrase, in this case were driven: “and the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven even into the land of Bountiful” (Helaman 4:6).

Summary: Maintain the original word order in Mormon 5:17, with even following the main verb, led.

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

References