2 Nephi 4:5 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
for behold I know that if ye are brought up in the right way [that >js NULL 1|that A| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] ye should go ye will not depart from it

In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith removed the relative pronoun that in this verse. The phrase “way that” does occur in the King James Bible, as in the following two cases which parallel the original text of 2 Nephi 4:5:

In modern English, the that could be deleted from both of these biblical instances.

Joseph Smith’s editing here in 2 Nephi 4:5 can be considered a question of style rather than grammatical usage. For further discussion regarding the deletion of the relative pronoun that in the Book of Mormon text, see under which in volume 3.

Summary: Restore the relative pronoun that in 2 Nephi 4:5; the original that follows more closely the King James biblical style.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 1

References