Jacob 2:18 Textual Variants

Mark Skousen has suggested (personal communication) that the second clause in this passage may have originally read “seek ye first the kingdom of God”, especially since the language of this clause parallels Matthew 6:33 (which is quoted in 3 Nephi 13:33): “but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. A parallel example from the synoptic Gospels is even closer to this Book of Mormon clause, and it too lacks the for: “but rather seek ye the kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31). Indeed, it also lacks the adverb first. One could even argue that the original text for the second clause in Jacob 2:18 read “seek ye the kingdom of God” and that the for was accidentally added, perhaps under the influence of the preceding clause (“but before that ye seek for riches”). One could also argue that an original first might have been replaced by for because of the phonetic similarity between the initial part of first and for, especially if for was pronounced /fßr/, a common colloquial pronunciation for for. On the other hand, there is no independent evidence in the manuscripts or the editions that first and for have ever been mixed up in the text of the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon text has examples of both “seek X” and “seek for X”, so either is possible here in Jacob 2:18. In this verse the text has a matched pair of “seek for X”, while in the next verse there is a matched pair of “seek X”:

• Jacob 2:19
  • and after that ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches if ye seek them and ye will seek them for the intent to do good

Also note that the proposed first is actually unnecessary in the second clause of verse 18 since the first clause begins with the subordinate conjunction before (“before that ye seek for riches”). No such redundancy is found in the two quotes from the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 6:33 and Luke 12:31). The text in Jacob 2:18 works perfectly fine, and we should therefore not emend for to first. Nor is there strong reason to suppose that the second clause in Jacob 2:18 originally read without the for. In each case of “seek (for) X”, we let the earliest textual sources determine whether the for was in the original text.