2 Nephi 13:18 Textual Variants

Isaiah 3:18 (King James Bible) in that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their cauls and their round tires like the moon

Here in 2 Nephi 13:18, the original Book of Mormon text is the same as the King James text except that every King James word set in italics is missing in the original Book of Mormon text (three instances of their as well as the phrase “about their feet”). The 1837 edition restored the first their (“the bravery of their tinkling ornaments”), perhaps by reference to a King James Bible. Nonetheless, the two other their ’s were not supplied. It is possible that Joseph Smith himself inserted the single their, but we cannot be sure since the word was not added in the printer’s manuscript. The entire verse in the original Book of Mormon text does sound somewhat awkward, which may have motivated the insertion of the their in front of the noun phrase tinkling ornaments.

The original Book of Mormon text was consistent in that there was no determiner at all for tinkling ornaments, cauls, or round tires. The Hebrew original has the definite article the for each of these noun phrases, just as it also has a the for every noun phrase (18 of them) listed in the following five verses (2 Nephi 13:19–23). This list includes the one case of nose jewels (in verse 21), for which the King James translators neglected to supply the the.

The most consistent translation of the Hebrew would be to place the in front of each noun phrase in the whole list (all 21 examples, from verse 18 through 23). Of course, this solution does not reproduce how the Book of Mormon text originally read in verse 18; there the three the ’s are purposely missing. The critical text will restore the original reading that ignored all the italicized words in Isaiah 3:18.