1 Nephi 8:18 Textual Variants

Here is an example of how Joseph Smith, in his editing for the 1840 edition, used the original manuscript to restore phrases that had been accidentally dropped during the earlier transmission of the text. In this case, Oliver Cowdery omitted the conjoined predicate “and partake of the fruit” when copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟. This predicate was restored in the 1840 edition and has been followed throughout the RLDS textual tradition. The LDS text restored it in the 1920 edition, undoubtedly by reference to the 1840 edition. Although the original manuscript for most of 1 Nephi has been in the possession of the LDS Church since the 1880s, there is no evidence that it was ever examined for textual variants until the 1970s.

This conjoining of the verb come with partake is consistent with six other occurrences here in 1 Nephi 8, which recounts Lehi’s dream of the tree of life:

• 1 Nephi 8:15
  • that they should come unto me and partake of the fruit
• 1 Nephi 8:16
  • they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also
• 1 Nephi 8:17
  • that Laman and Lemuel should come and partake of the fruit also
• 1 Nephi 8:24
  • they did come forth and partook of the fruit of the tree
• 1 Nephi 8:27
  • towards those which had came up and were partaking of the fruit
• 1 Nephi 8:30
  • they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree