1 Nephi 10:2–3 Textual Variants

The larger passage here consists of several different types of editing, all initiated by Joseph Smith in an attempt to smooth out the text. This editing represents Joseph’s early attempts to clarify the text, but this kind of editing soon ceased since it was probably time-consuming and not really necessary. We first consider Joseph Smith’s editing of the subordinate conjunctive phrase “how that”.

His editing here seems to be motivated by an attempt to deal with the complexity of the subordinate clause (“after they were destroyed”) that follows right after the “how that”. Later on in the book of Ether, Joseph edited out a similar example of how; in this case, the following clause (“after the waters had receded from off the face of this land”) is also subordinate:

• Ether 13:2
  • for he truly told them of all things from the beginning of man and [how >js NULL 1|how A| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands

But in five cases, the phrase “how that” has been retained; in each of these cases there is no following subordinate clause after the “how that”:

• 2 Nephi 30:4
  • and then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us how that we came out from Jerusalem
• Jacob 2:5
  • I can tell you concerning your thoughts how that ye are beginning to labor in sin
• Jacob 3:10
  • wherefore ye shall remember your children how that ye have grieved their hearts
• Helaman 2:8
  • and it came to pass that when the servant of Helaman had known all the heart of Kishcumen and how that it was his object to murder …
• Helaman 5:6
  • and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said and also written that they were good

In any event, there is no crucial need to delete the how from 1 Nephi 10:3 and Ether 13:2, despite the increased complexity of having an after-clause immediately follow “how that”.