1 Nephi 17:3 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them and strengthen them and provide [ways & means 0|means 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] whereby they can accomplish the thing which he hath commanded them wherefore he did provide [way & means > ways & means 0|means 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness

Here in 𝓞 we have two occurrences of the phrase “ways and means” that Oliver Cowdery copied into 𝓟 as simply means. The word ways refers to methods of doing things, while means is a mass noun that refers to the physical objects and materials needed to carry out those ways. This phraseology is rare today in English but is still accurately used in the designation of the congressional committee “Ways and Means”.

There is ample evidence for the use of the phrase “ways and means” elsewhere in the Book of Mormon text, with its corresponding “way or means” in negative contexts (such as “no other way nor means”). Notice how all of the following examples involve a whereby-clause, just like the first example in 1 Nephi 17:3 (“provide ways and means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he hath commanded them”):

All these other uses of “ways and means” have been left unaltered in the text. Why Oliver Cowdery decided to shorten the two occurrences in 1 Nephi 17:3 seems inexplicable. This editing of his seems to be intentional but totally unnecessary. (For an additional example of where the original text may have also read “ways and means”, see Alma 34:15.)

Summary: Restore both occurrences of “ways and means” in 1 Nephi 17:3, according to the reading of the original manuscript.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 1

References