2 Nephi 5:32 Textual Variants

This example uses the subjunctive be form of the verb in both the conditional if-clause (“if my people be pleased”) and the following main clause (“they be pleased”). Modern English readers expect indicative verb forms, so Joseph Smith (in his editing for the 1837 edition) changed the be in the if-clause to are and added the modal verb will in the second clause. David Calabro points out (personal communication) that the original usage is tenseless and is purely conditional while Joseph Smith’s editing adds a sequencing in time to the conditional statement (the present-tense are followed by the future will ).

A similar kind of tenseless conditional statement occurred in the original text of the title page for the Book of Mormon:

• title page: second paragraph
  and now if there be fault
  it be the mistake of men

Here Joseph Smith edited both be ’s to are (along with other changes in number). In both this instance and 2 Nephi 5:32, the original subjunctive uses are understandable even though they are nonstandard in today’s English.