Ether 4:1 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and for this cause did king [Benjamin 1ABCDGHK|Mosiah EFIJLMNOQRT| Benjamin [Mosiah?] P|Benjamin {Mosiah?} S] keep them

As discussed under Mosiah 21:28, there are two passages in the text where editors have been inclined to replace the original name Benjamin with Mosiah. But it turns out that Benjamin, the difficult reading, is not only intended but correct. Here in Ether 4:1, Orson Pratt (the editor for the 1849 LDS edition) made the change to Mosiah. The 1908 and 1953 RLDS editions have been more cautious, keeping Benjamin but parenthetically inserting Mosiah along with a question mark. Here the critical text will restore the original Benjamin—and without any reference in the text itself to the alternative, Mosiah.

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

References