Filter: Edits or Dictation Oddities
Total chapters: 8
Overview
Edits or Dictation Oddities
The Book of Mormon uses the phrases “it came to pass” (without “and”) and “and it came to pass” at nearly nine times the rate the Bible does (or 14 times the rate of verses with these phrases). This doesn't tell us anything definitive about its authorship, but it does make us question how much of the Book of Mormon uses filler words to make the Book longer. And we can quantify this uneasy feeling. (We can also add it to the count of how many chapters of the Book of Mormon are verbatim or near-verbatim copies of entire chapters from the Bible, namely 22 out of 239 chapters, or 9.2% of the Book. So if 9.2% of the Book is unabashed chapter lifting, and 2.4% of the words of the Book are variations on “it came to pass,” that means we only have account for the origin of less than 88.4% of the words of the Book.)
1 Nephi 11
Edits or Dictation Oddities
Original 1830 ed. says “the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh,” which was edited to “the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.” 1830 edition also says, “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father.” This was edited to “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father.” Finally (for this one chapter) “the Everlasting God, was judged of the world” was changed to “the Son of the Everlasting God, was judged of the world.” cf. 1 Nephi 13 changes, as well as places that were not changed, such as Alma 11:38-39, Mosiah 15:1–4 & 16:15, Ether 3:14–15.
1 Nephi 13
Edits or Dictation Oddities
“The Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Savior of the world” was changed to “the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world.” See changes to 1 Nephi 11, as well as places that were not changed, such as Alma 11:38-39, Mosiah 15:1–4 & 16:15, Ether 3:14–15.
2 Nephi 30
Edits or Dictation Oddities
2 Ne. 30:6–7: The Book of Mormon would bring the Lamanites and the Jews to Christ, so the Lamanites would become “a white and a delightsome people,” 1830, 1837, Skousen's The Earliest Text, whereas verse 7, the Jews would become delightsome (already white, see 1 Nephi 11, 1 Nephi 13). For some reason in 1840 JS Jr. changed this to “a pure and a delightsome people,” in Nauvoo, (1841 edition, still “a white and a delightsome”) but the text has been “pure and delightsome” in 1981, 2004 Doubleday edition, and only recently corrected to 1830 reading by Royal Skousen, in scholarly circles, but not in official, correlated circles.
Mosiah 21
Edits or Dictation Oddities
In the 1830 edition, the name King Benjamin was used. In 1837 Joseph changed it to King Mosiah. Cf. Ether 4:1.
Alma 32
Edits or Dictation Oddities
See Alma 32:30 text restored for more information about one inconsequential restoration (from original manuscript) to the 1830 Book of Mormon. This one case is more like the exception that proves the rule, that material changes to the Book of Mormon have no doctrinal implications. This one change may not, but other substantive changes do.
Alma 50
Edits or Dictation Oddities
Evidence of a verbal edit: “Now behold, the people who were in the land Bountiful, or rather Moroni, feared that that...” Was this really engraven into the plates?
Ether 4
Edits or Dictation Oddities
In the 1830 edition, the name King Benjamin was used. In 1837 Joseph changed it to King Mosiah. Cf. Mosiah 21:28.