2 Nephi 26:18 Textual Variants

Isaiah 29:5 (King James Bible) and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away

Here the Book of Mormon text has their before “terrible ones”, while the King James text has the. Much of Isaiah 29 is paraphrased in 2 Nephi 26–28. In this Book of Mormon paraphrase, the first and second persons of Isaiah 29 have been replaced by the third person, so the introduction of their here in 2 Nephi 26:18 can be seen as being consistent with the paraphrase. Further, the immediately preceding text here in 2 Nephi 26 uses they to refer to those who “seek to destroy the things of God” and who will also be “destroyed speedily”:

• 2 Nephi 26:17–18 (original text)
  • and they that have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them for they seek to destroy the things of God wherefore as they which have been destroyed have been destroyed speedily and the multitude of their terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away

We do not have the original manuscript here for 2 Nephi 26:18, so we cannot be sure whether it read their or the before “terrible ones”; but without any strong evidence against the current reading of their, it seems most reasonable to keep their rather than replace it with the King James the. The possessive pronoun their works well within the larger context.