1 Nephi 17:48 Textual Variants

The 1920 LDS edition replaced the plural possessive pronoun their with the singular his because the rest of the verse uses the singular pronoun forms he and him. In general, the text allows both singular and plural interpretations for whoso, whosoever, and whomsoever. Consider the following two examples from chapter 26 of Mosiah:

Mosiah 26:32

and whosoever will not repent of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people

Mosiah 26:35

and whosoever repented of their sins and did confess them them he did number among the people of the church

There are seven other cases in the original text of whoso(ever) occurring with a mixture of singular and plural pronouns. All of these have been edited except for one (in 3 Nephi 11:23); in one case the editing has only been partial (in Alma 12:34):

• Mosiah 5:10 (1920 editing)
  • and now it shall come to pass that whosoever shall not take upon [them 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|him RT] the name of Christ must be called by some other name therefore he findeth himself on the left hand of God
• Alma 12:34 (Joseph Smith’s 1837 editing)
  • therefore whosoever repenteth and hardeneth not his heart he shall have claim on mercy through mine only begotten Son unto a remission of [their >js his 1|their A|his BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] sins and these shall enter into my rest
• Alma 12:35 (Joseph Smith’s 1837 editing)
  • and whosoever will harden his heart and will do iniquity behold I swear in my wrath that [they >js he 1|they A|he BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] shall not enter into my rest
• Alma 36:3 (Joseph Smith’s 1837 editing)
  • for I do know that whomsoever shall put [his 0A|his >js their 1|their BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] trust in God shall be supported in their trials and their troubles and their afflictions
• 3 Nephi 11:23 (no editing of these pronouns)
  • verily I say unto you that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words and desireth to be baptized in my name on this wise shall ye baptize them
• Mormon 9:21 (Joseph Smith’s 1837 editing)
  • behold I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ doubting nothing whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted [them >js him 1|them A|him BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]
• Moroni 7:47 (1920 editing)
  • and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day it shall be well with [them 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|him RT]

For three of these cases (Mosiah 5:10, Mormon 9:21, and Moroni 7:47), one could argue that the them of the earliest textual sources may be an error for him, since there is evidence for scribal mix-ups between them and him (for the evidence, see 1 Nephi 10:18–19). Yet as noted in the discussion under 1 Nephi 10:18–19, the shifting between singular and plural pronoun forms can be fully intended, especially in generic contexts. And this is precisely what we have here in these passages, the generic pronoun whoso(ever). Thus there is no strong reason to assume that for these three cases the manuscript occurrence of them is an error for him.

The critical text will therefore restore these cases of mixture since all of them may be intentional. None of them cause any real problem in understanding. For a complete discussion of whether whoso, whosoever, and whomsoever should be considered singular or plural, see whoso in volume 3.