2 Nephi 5:19 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
wherefore I had been their ruler and their teacher according to the commandments of the Lord until the time [that >js NULL 1|that A| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] they sought to take away my life

The expression “until the time” directly precedes a clause nine times in the Book of Mormon text. In all cases but two, the earliest textual sources have the subordinate conjunction that between “until the time” and the clause immediately following. Besides this example from 2 Nephi 5:19, we have the following six examples with the that:

The two examples where the that is not in the earliest textual sources occur in the same passage:

Four of the above examples (all in the book of Mosiah) occur with a preceding “from the time” followed by a clause, and in one case the that is present:

Thus the choice of the that is optional; in each case we rely on the earliest textual sources to determine whether the that is there. For further discussion of the optionality of the subordinate conjunction that, see that in volume 3.

Joseph Smith removed the conjunction that in only the first of all these examples of “until the time” (in 2 Nephi 5:19). This editing is, of course, stylistic and was not continued.

Summary: Restore the original that which Joseph Smith deleted in 2 Nephi 5:19 (“until the time that they sought to take away my life”).

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

References