2 Nephi 31:18 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and ye have received the Holy Ghost which witness of the Father and the Son unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made that if ye [entered 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRT|enter S] in by the way ye should receive

The original reading here in 2 Nephi 31:18 uses the past-tense entered in an if-clause; this pasttense usage is a form of the subjunctive and corresponds with the historically past-tense modal form should that is found in the associated main clause (“ye should receive”). The 1953 RLDS edition replaced the subjunctive past-tense entered with the present indicative enter.

Similar examples of such past-tense subjunctive usage are found elsewhere in if-clauses in the Book of Mormon text:

Such usage is also found in the King James Bible:

Summary: Maintain in 2 Nephi 31:18 the original subjunctive past-tense usage (“if ye entered in by the way / ye should receive”).

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

References