2 Nephi 25:23 Textual Variants

The 1837 edition removed the relative pronoun that from this verse. We cannot be sure whether this deletion is intentional or not. Joseph Smith did not mark it in the printer’s manuscript. When we compare similar texts containing “all (that)” followed by a pronoun, we find that the relative pronoun that occurs in most cases (12 out of 16 occurrences). The ones without the that are marked with an asterisk in the following list:

• 1 Nephi 7:21 I did frankly forgive them all that they had done
• 1 Nephi 8:11 above all that I ever had before tasted
• Mosiah 2:22 all that he requires of you
• Mosiah 2:34 to render to him all that you have and are
• *Mosiah 10:17 and do all they could to destroy them
• Alma 7:27 upon you and upon ... all that you possess
• Alma 11:46 this is all that I have written
• Alma 20:26 because this is all that thou hast desired
• Alma 22:15 I will give up all that I possess
• Alma 24:11 since it has been all that we could do
• *Alma 24:11 for it was all we could do
• Alma 29:8 all that he seeth fit that they should have
• *Alma 52:29 and all they feared was Lehi and his men
• *Alma 60:4 were this all we had suffered
• Helaman 9:13 and they told them all that they had done
• 3 Nephi 6:2 they did take with them all that they had not devoured

One interesting contrast occurs in Alma 24:11; there we have examples of both types (one with the that and one without). This variability shows that in each case we should rely on the earliest textual sources to determine whether that follows all. There does not seem to be much tendency to edit out the that, so the 1837 change in 2 Nephi 25:23 could well be a typographical error. Note, by the way, that the 1906 LDS large-print edition restored the that (but probably accidentally since there is no evidence elsewhere to show that the 1830 edition was used to correct the text for that edition).

In addition to this general case, there are also six instances where the word all is preceded by a measure phrase. Unlike the general case, here we find that no that ever follows all in the Book of Mormon text:

• Mosiah 7:22 and even one half of all we have or possess
• Mosiah 11:3 one fifth part of all they possessed
• Mosiah 19:15 even one half of all they possessed
• Mosiah 19:22 one half of all they possessed
• Mosiah 19:26 even one half of all they possessed
• Alma 13:15 one tenth part of all he possessed

It should also be noted that each of these refers to a portion of one’s possessions. For further discussion regarding the omission of the relative pronoun that, see under which in volume 3.