2 Nephi 1:24 Textual Variants

Here the 1830 typesetter added the relative pronoun that, probably accidentally. Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon text, when the time is followed by Jerusalem within a few words, that occurs 11 times but is omitted 6 times:

• 1 Nephi 10:4 from the time that my father left Jerusalem
• 1 Nephi 19:8 from the time my father left Jerusalem
• 2 Nephi 5:28 from the time we left Jerusalem
• 2 Nephi 25:4 from the time that I came out from Jerusalem
• 2 Nephi 25:19 from the time that my father left Jerusalem
• Jacob 1:1 from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem
• Enos 1:25 from the time that our father Lehi left Jerusalem
• Mosiah 1:6 from the time they left Jerusalem
• Mosiah 2:34 to the time our father Lehi left Jerusalem
• Mosiah 6:4 from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem
• Mosiah 28:20 from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem
• Mosiah 29:46 from the time Lehi left Jerusalem
• Alma 18:36 to the time that their father Lehi left Jerusalem
• Alma 18:38 from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem
• Alma 28:2 from the time Lehi left Jerusalem
• Nephi 1:1 from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem
• 3 Nephi 5:15 from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem

One of these examples involves manuscript variation:

• Jacob 1:1
  • from the time [NULL >+ that 1|that ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] Lehi left Jerusalem

Since either reading is possible for Jacob 1:1, there was no strong motivation for Oliver Cowdery to have emended the text here. Rather, the correction in Jacob 1:1 (with somewhat heavier ink) is probably the result of Oliver’s proofing of 𝓟 against 𝓞. For more discussion, see Jacob 1:1.

So there is nothing wrong with the earliest reading in 2 Nephi 1:24 (for which the relative pronoun that is lacking). This instance gives us a seventh example without the that.