1 Nephi 17:22 Textual Variants

The omission of the repeated the is undoubtedly a typo in the 1911 LDS edition. This reading has been followed by all subsequent LDS editions.

The use of the for all conjuncts in a conjoined structure is characteristic of the Book of Mormon text and is, in fact, a Hebraism that has generally been maintained in the text, as in the following extended conjuncts from 1 Nephi:

• 1 Nephi 13:8
  • the gold and the silver and the silks and the scarlets and the fine-twined linen and the precious clothing and the harlots
• 1 Nephi 18:25
  • the cow and the ox and the ass and the horse and the goat and the wild goat

Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, we find that for conjuncts of statutes and judgments the determiner is usually repeated:

• 2 Nephi 1:16 the statutes and the judgments of the Lord
• 2 Nephi 5:10 the judgments and the statutes and the commandments of the Lord
• Mosiah 6:6 his judgments and his statutes
• Alma 58:40 his statutes and his judgments and his commandments
• Helaman 3:20 the statutes and the judgments and the commandments of God
• Helaman 15:5 his commandments and his statutes and his judgments

But in two cases, the initial determiner is not repeated:

• Alma 8:17 the statutes and judgments and commandments which he hath given unto his people
• 3 Nephi 25:4 the statutes and judgments

The last example quotes Malachi 4:4 and exemplifies the variation that is also found in the King James Bible, which has 22 examples of the repeated determiner in conjuncts of statutes and judgments but 6 examples without the repetition.

All this evidence indicates that for the Book of Mormon text we let the earliest textual sources determine whether the determiner is repeated in conjuncts. In 1 Nephi 17:22, the definite article the is repeated. For a list of other examples of the repeated determiner, see conjunctive repetition in volume 3.