2 Nephi 25:10 Textual Variants

As Oliver Cowdery copied from 𝓞 into 𝓟, he initially skipped the and before according. He first corrected the text by supralinearly inserting an ampersand at the end of the line (line 9 on page 81 of 𝓟), but then he erased the ampersand and supralinearly inserted it at the beginning of the next line (line 10). Perhaps Oliver was bothered by having a line end with a supralinear ampersand, although generally he allowed lines to end with an ampersand written inline (see, for instance, the uninserted ampersand written inline at the end of line 18 on this same page of 𝓟).

The Book of Mormon text never allows according to immediately begin a sentence. Instead, there is always some kind of discourse connective that comes before the according, as in the following examples:

• 1 Nephi 7:17
  • but it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord saying O Lord according to my faith which is in me wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren
• 1 Nephi 17:31
  • and it came to pass that according to his word he did destroy them and according to his word he did lead them and according to his word he did do all things for them
• 2 Nephi 25:19
  • for according to the words of the prophets the Messiah cometh in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem
• Alma 42:13
  • therefore according to justice the plan of redemption could not be brought about only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state
• Alma 57:21
  • yea and even according to their faith it was done unto them
• Helaman 9:37
  • and behold the words which he had said were true for according to the words he did deny and also according to the words he did confess
• Helaman 12:15
  • and thus according to his word the earth goeth back
• 3 Nephi 5:18
  • nevertheless there are many things which according to our language we are not able to write

Thus there is some need in 2 Nephi 25:10 for a connective before “according to my prophecy they have been destroyed”. The most common connective for according is the conjunction and (with ten occurrences), as in the corrected reading in 𝓟 for this passage. Another common connective is for (with five occurrences).