Lyle Fletcher (personal communication, 13 July 2004) suggests that “wilt thou encircle me around” should be “wilt thou encircle me about”, in accord with usage elsewhere in the text. To be sure, the normal phrase in the Book of Mormon is “encircle about”, with 22 instances (as in 2 Nephi 1:15: “and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love”). But there is variation. There are, for instance, examples of the phrase “encircle (a)round about”:
There is also one instance of encircle without about or (a)round:
These instances of minor variation suggest that there is nothing wrong with there being one instance of “encircle around” in the text, especially since there are instances of “encircle round about”. Moreover, there is no evidence in the manuscripts (or in the printed editions) where about and around have been mixed up. Another possibility is that this one instance of “encircle around” could be an error for “encircle (a)round about”, although as explained under the nearby addendum for 1 Nephi 17:45, there is no firm evidence in the history of the text for the accidental loss of the word about (also see the addendum under Jacob 5:47).
There is historical evidence under about and around in the Oxford English Dictionary that these two words have the same original meaning and have sometimes been used interchangeably. In fact, about comes from on-bútan, which originally meant (according to the OED) “on or by the outside of, hence around, wholly or partially”. The OED also provides evidence that the adverb around is used in American English as an equivalent to British about for certain phrases, at least since the late 1700s (for some examples, see under definition 5 in the OED for the adverb around ). Ultimately, there is really nothing inappropriate about the expression “wilt thou encircle me around” in 2 Nephi 4:33, only that it is a unique reading in the Book of Mormon text. The critical text will therefore accept it since it is the earliest reading in this passage and it will work.
Summary: Retain in 2 Nephi 4:33 the use of around in the clause “wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness”, the earliest reading, even though in most instances the phraseology in the text is “encircle about”.
2 Nephi 5:9, page 552, line 18
The actual discussion of this possible emendation is under Alma 39:9–10, not Alma 39:9.
2 Nephi 5:21, page 561
The citation of the Words of Mormon 1:18, in the middle of the page, should have dashes around “and also the prophets”, not around “by laboring with all the mights of his body and the faculty of his whole soul”.