Moroni 9:1 Textual Variants

The earliest text here in Moroni 9:1 is a rather difficult reading, even when we ignore the dialectal grievious: “but I write somewhat that which is grievious”. In modern English we expect either of or concerning to separate somewhat from the following noun phrase, “that which is grievious”. The 1920 LDS edition emended the text here by supplying of, giving “but I write somewhat of that which is grievous”. (The 1830 typesetter replaced the original grievious with the standard grievous; for discussion of the nonstandard variant, see under 1 Nephi 17:25.)

There is minor evidence in the transmission of the text for the momentary loss of concerning,namely, in 𝓟 as Oliver Cowdery was copying the text from 𝓞:

• Helaman 11:22
  • save it were a few contentions [NULL > concerning 1|concerning ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets

Note here, however, that concerning was probably omitted because the preceding word was visually similar; both are fairly long and begin with the same syllable, con, thus leading Oliver to initially skip concerning.

In contrast to concerning, there is considerably more evidence in the manuscripts for the occasional loss of the preposition of between two noun phrases, as in these examples where Oliver Cowdery made the error:

• Alma 29:7 (momentary error in 𝓞)
  • why should I desire that I was an angel that I could speak unto all the ends [NULL > of 0|of 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] the earth
• Alma 34:16 (momentary error in 𝓟)
  • and thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice and encircle them in the arms [of 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|NULL >+ of 1] safety
• Alma 43:38 (momentary error in 𝓞)
  • they being shielded from the more vital parts [the >% of 0|of 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] the body
• Alma 52:40 (momentary error in 𝓞)
  • and now the number of prisoners which were taken exceeded more than the number [those >+ of 0|of 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] those which had been slain
• Alma 57:8 (momentary error in 𝓞)
  • yea with our strong force or with a part [NULL >– of 0|of 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] our strong force we did surround by night the city Cumeni
• Moroni 9:25 (momentary error in 𝓟)
  • and his mercy and long-suffering and the hope [NULL > of 1|of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] his glory

In all these cases, Oliver caught his error.

As we might expect, the Book of Mormon text does have examples of “somewhat of NP” and “somewhat concerning NP”, where NP is a noun phrase, as in 1 Nephi 10:1 (“I must speak somewhat of the things of my father and also of my brethren”) and in the Words of Mormon 1:3 (“and now I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written”). Yet the original text had two more examples of somewhat immediately followed by a noun phrase (that is, without any intervening of or concerning):

• The Words of Mormon 1:12
  • he had somewhat [ 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|of RT] contentions among his own people
• Moroni 9:24
  • wherefore write somewhat a few things if thou art spared

In the first case, of was supplied in the 1920 LDS edition; but in the second case, the original text has been kept. Also note that the second of these is in this same chapter of Moroni, which argues that the first instance in this chapter, here in verse 1, is correct. Thus the expression “somewhat

” appears to be textually possible since it occurs elsewhere in the text. The critical text will therefore maintain the instance of “somewhat a few things” in Moroni 9:24 and restore the two original instances of “somewhat ” (in the Words of Mormon 1:12 and here in Moroni 9:1).