2 Nephi 23:18 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
their bows shall also dash the young men to pieces

Isaiah 13:18 (King James Bible) their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces

In the Book of Mormon text for 2 Nephi 23:18, the word also is placed after the auxiliary verb shall, which is the normal word order in English, while the King James Bible has the also before the shall. This difference in word order could be due to an early error in transmission. Even so, the critical text will retain the order of the earliest textual sources since that order does work and could therefore be intentional. For a similar example involving the position of also, see the discussion under 2 Nephi 21:13.

Summary: Maintain in 2 Nephi 23:18 the word order “shall also dash”, the reading of the earliest extant Book of Mormon text.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 2

References