The original text of the Book of Mormon frequently uses a special blend of the nominal and verbal gerundive constructions. When the article the appears before the gerund, the gerund is treated as a nominal, with the result that standard English expects the preposition of before the object of the verb (thus “the doing of something”). On the other hand, if the the is not there, the gerund is verbal and the object appears directly after the verb without any intervening of (thus “doing something”). Here in 1 Nephi 17:32, we have two examples of the unexpected blended construction “the doing something”.
Editors and typesetters of the text have frequently removed this mixed nominal-verbal gerundive, including the two examples of this blend found in the original text for 1 Nephi 17:32. Here the preposition unto, since it is followed by the, requires the nominal gerundive; thus in the 1852 LDS edition the of was added to the first example, but inexplicably not to the second one. The 1907 LDS vest-pocket edition did add the of in the second case, but this change has not been followed by subsequent LDS editions.
Elsewhere in the text, we have examples where the original gerundive blend has never been edited out:
Sometimes the of is added, thus making the gerundive completely nominal:
And other times the definite article the is deleted, thus creating a completely verbal gerundive:
Based on the earliest textual sources, the critical text will restore all those original examples of the blended gerundive that have been removed from the text. For a full list of this mixed construction, see gerundives in volume 3.
Summary: Maintain the blended gerundives wherever they are supported by the earliest textual sources, such as the two examples in 1 Nephi 17:32: “unto the driving out the children of the land / yea unto the scattering them to destruction”.