Here the textual correction in the original manuscript is just like a change found a few verses earlier—namely, claved to clave in 1 Nephi 20:21. As noted there, the deletion in 𝓞 of the d of claved appears to have been done after 𝓟 was copied from 𝓞. Here in 1 Nephi 21:6, the crossout in 𝓞 of the final s in ends also seems to have been done after 𝓟 was copied (note that 𝓟 has ends). In addition, the ink flow for the crossout in 𝓞 is considerably heavier. In fact, the change to end in 𝓞 was probably done by referring to the King James Bible since the expected form in English is ends. The plural has continued in every printed edition.
In order to deal with this variation, we first consider the phrase “end(s) of the earth” in the book of Isaiah. It occurs 11 times in the Isaiah of the King James translation. The English word end corresponds to two different words in the Hebrew original. When the text refers to the geographical end(s) of the earth (or the peoples living there), the Hebrew word is derived from the consonantal root q-‚ s-h (meaning ‘end, extremity’); when the text directly refers to all peoples and nations (only in Isaiah 45:22 and 52:10), the Hebrew word is √efes (also meaning ‘end, extremity’). In terms of number, the Hebrew text is fairly evenly divided here, with five cases taking the singular and six taking the plural. The King James Bible agrees with the Hebrew in 10 of the 11 cases, but in Isaiah 43:6 (marked below with an asterisk), the Hebrew singular was translated into English as a plural, thus showing once more the tendency in English to favor the plural “ends of the earth”:
| verse | hebrew | king james bible |
| 5:26 | singular | hiss...from the end of the earth |
| 26:15 | plural | removed … unto all the ends of the earth |
| 40:28 | plural | the creator of the ends of the earth |
| 41:5 | plural | the ends of the earth were afraid |
| 41:9 | plural | taken from the ends of the earth |
| 42:10 | singular | sing ... from the end of the earth |
| * 43:6 | singular | bring ... from the ends of the earth |
| 45:22 | plural ( √efes) | be ye saved / all the ends of the earth |
| 48:20 | singular | utter ... to the end of the earth |
| 49:6 | singular | be my salvation unto the end of the earth |
| 52:10 | plural ( √efes) | all the ends of the earth shall see |
The Book of Mormon quotes three of these passages. Besides the passage here in 1 Nephi 21:6 (quoting Isaiah 49:6), the two other passages have the singular “end of the earth” and occur without variation in the Book of Mormon textual history:
So here we have two cases where the original King James singular has been maintained in the Book of Mormon text.
Generally, the Book of Mormon text prefers the plural “ends of the earth”. The singular occurs in only one other place, but here the meaning refers to the end of time for this world:
Excluding the Isaiah quotations and this example dealing with time, the text uses only the plural “ends of the earth” (22 times), and in each case the meaning deals with only geography or people.
Several of these 22 other cases are particularly interesting because they show how the Book of Mormon text prefers the plural ends, even when the text is strongly associated with Isaiah. First, consider the following two lines of additional text found later in Nephi’s long quote of Isaiah 2–14:
We see here that the two added lines use the plural “ends of the earth” rather than the singular.
In addition, there is Nephi’s later paraphrastic reference in 2 Nephi 29 to the Isaiah quotation in 2 Nephi 15:26 (from Isaiah 5:26). Both passages refer to the ensign (or standard) that will be lifted up and how its message will hiss forth, yet in Nephi’s commentary in 2 Nephi 29 we get the plural phraseology instead of the singular of the direct quote found earlier in 2 Nephi 15:
Finally, there are four passages in the Book of Mormon that quote the language of Isaiah 52:10 with its plural ends (namely, “and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”): Mosiah 12:24, Mosiah 15:31, 3 Nephi 16:20, and 3 Nephi 20:35.
In summary, there is minor variation in number between the Hebrew original and the King James Bible, as well as between the King James Bible and the corresponding quotations and paraphrases in the Book of Mormon. In each case, the tendency has been to increase the plural usage in the English text. This variation implies, then, that we should let the earliest textual sources determine the number of “end(s) of the earth”. The plural usage is the expected one, and this perhaps explains why the direct quote in 1 Nephi 21:6 ended up as “ends of the earth”. Here the original Book of Mormon text seems to have read in the plural; the correction in 𝓞 definitely seems to be due to later editing of 𝓞 (probably even after 𝓟 itself had been copied) and apparently by reference to a King James Bible.
Summary: Maintain the plural reading “ends of the earth” in 1 Nephi 21:6; the Book of Mormon text prefers this plural usage, although in two other Isaiah quotations we have the reading “end of the earth”, the original singular of the King James Bible.