Isaiah 49:24–25 (King James Bible)
shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered but thus saith the LORD (b ) even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away (a ) and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered
In the two Book of Mormon manuscripts, we consistently have the singular captive in this chiasmus (based on prey-captive-captive-prey and represented above as a-b-b -a ). The 1830 typesetter changed both examples of the singular captive to the plural, and all subsequent editions have consistently followed this plurality.
In the King James Bible, we have the singular captive in verse 24 and the plural captives in verse 25. Of course, this disagreement in number partially breaks the identity of the noun forms in the chiasmus. Note that otherwise the chiasmus in English uses only singular forms (prey, mighty, and terrible).
The Hebrew text has the same form for captive(s), thus maintaining the noun identity of the chiasmus. In both cases, this word can be translated in either the singular or the plural (since the word historically meant ‘captivity’, but the word’s usage was expanded to also mean ‘a captive’ or ‘captives’). In the Hebrew, the words prey, mighty, and terrible are all singular forms. The most consistent translation would therefore be to use the singular throughout, which is how the original text of the Book of Mormon apparently read here in 1 Nephi 21:24–25. But if the plural captives is chosen instead of the singular, both occurrences should read in the plural (as in all the printed editions of the Book of Mormon).
Another possibility is that the reading in 𝓞 is due to scribal error. It is possible that Oliver Cowdery accidentally dropped the plural s for the captives in verse 25 (under the influence of the preceding singular captive in verse 24). As scribe, Oliver sometimes accidentally dropped the plural s. (There are a couple of nearby examples in 𝓞: affliction > afflictions in 1 Nephi 16:35 and way > ways in 1 Nephi 17:3.)
Substantial support for a scribal error in 1 Nephi 21:25 comes from 2 Nephi 6, where this same Isaiah passage is again quoted word for word:
Here the King James use of both captive and captives is maintained. Thus it is quite possible in 1 Nephi 21:24–25 that the second captive was just a scribal error for captives.
In other places where the King James Bible is quoted more than once, differences between the multiple Book of Mormon quotations do occur. For instance, verses 22–26 here in 1 Nephi 21 are also directly quoted in 2 Nephi 6:6–7, 16–18. There are two additional clauses in the Book of Mormon text, but also one of the King James clauses is omitted. Further, there are three minor differences between the two passages: face versus faces in 2 Nephi 6:7, him versus them in 2 Nephi 6:17, and an omitted and in 1 Nephi 21:26. Generally speaking, we will allow such differences, both major and minor, to remain in the critical text unless there is specific evidence for scribal error.
Since the singular captive clearly works in 1 Nephi 21:24–25, the best solution is to follow the earliest textual evidence for this passage (namely, two occurrences of the singular). On the other hand, again basing our decision on the earliest textual sources, we will retain the disagreement in number found in 2 Nephi 6:16–17 (which there follows the King James text).
Summary: Restore the two singular readings of captive in 1 Nephi 21:24–25, as found in both the original and printer’s manuscripts; on the other hand, the King James Bible’s captive /captives will be retained in 2 Nephi 6:16–17.