2 Nephi 4:5 Textual Variants

Joseph Smith deleted the word right probably because it seemed obvious that “the way that ye should go” is “the right way”. The phrase “the right way(s)” occurs quite frequently in the rest of the Book of Mormon text (ten times), including the following four cases with a similar kind of redundancy:

• 1 Nephi 13:27
  • and all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord
• 1 Nephi 22:14
  • and that great whore which hath perverted the right ways of the Lord
• 2 Nephi 28:15
  • and all they that commit whoredoms and pervert the right way of the Lord woe woe woe be unto them
• Jacob 7:7
  • and ye have led away much of this people that they pervert the right way of God

One could argue that the phrase “the right way(s) of the Lord (or God)” is also redundant: there is no “wrong way of the Lord (or God)”, so right could be deleted here as well, to give “the way(s) of the Lord (or God)”.

But another possibility is that original phrase “the right way” in 2 Nephi 4:5 should be interpreted as meaning ‘the straight way’ rather than ‘the correct way’. Under this interpretation, the adjective right is descriptive rather than defining, which means that right is nonrestrictive rather than restrictive in its modification of way. In other words, the expression “in the right way that ye should go” is simply saying that the way one should go is the straight way. Given this more specific interpretation for “the right way(s)”, we can see that each of these five examples involve deviation from the straight way:

• 1 Nephi 13:27 that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord
• 1 Nephi 22:14 which hath perverted the rights ways of the Lord
• 2 Nephi 4:5 ye will not depart from it
• 2 Nephi 28:15 and pervert the right way of the Lord
• Jacob 7:7 that they pervert the right way of God

Historically, the verb pervert meant ‘to turn aside from’ and was commonly used with this sense in Early Modern English (see the examples under definition 2 for the verb pervert in the Oxford English Dictionary).

The six other occurrences in the Book of Mormon of “the right way(s)” can also be interpreted as ‘the straight way(s)’:

• 2 Nephi 25:28–29 (three occurrences)
  • for they are sufficient to teach any man the right way for the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not … and now behold I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not
• Jacob 7:7
  • and keep not the law of Moses which is the right way
• Mormon 9:20
  • and the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief and depart from the right way
• Moroni 6:4
  • and their names were taken that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God to keep them in the right way

The last two examples can also be interpreted as dealing with deviation from the straight way (“and depart from the right way” and “to keep them in the right way”).

Historically, the English word right frequently had the meaning ‘straight’. In fact, the first meaning listed for the adjective right in the OED is ‘straight, not bent, curved, or crooked in any way’. This same meaning underlies all but one example of “right way(s)” in the King James Bible. Here I give a fairly literal translation of the original Hebrew (for the Old Testament quotes) and the Greek (for the New Testament quotes):

The example from Genesis (‘the true way’) could be considered as equivalent to ‘the correct way’, but in all the other examples (three in Hebrew and two in Greek), the original meaning of “right way(s)” is ‘straight way(s)’. Thus in five out of six cases, the King James translators intended “right way(s)” to be the translation for ‘straight way(s)’.

Like most uses of “right way(s)” in the King James Bible, all 11 cases in the Book of Mormon can be interpreted as meaning ‘straight way(s)’. Moreover, if the original right in 2 Nephi 4:3 is nonrestrictive in its use, then there is no redundancy, even if we decide that “the right way” means ‘the correct way’. Of course, the original text here clearly reads “the right way that ye should go”, and the critical text will restore the word right despite the difficulty it gives modern English readers.