Jacob 5:8 Textual Variants

The phrase “I take” seems strange here since the Lord of the vineyard is actually announcing what he is going to do, not what he is in the process of doing. We do not have the original manuscript here, but it appears that the helping verb will was accidentally dropped out during the early transmission of the text. Support for this emendation comes from the rest of the text for this verse, especially the last part, which parallels the first part of the verse except that “I will take” is found rather than “I take”:

• Jacob 5:8
  • wherefore I will take these young and tender branches and I will graft them whithersoever I will

This parallel language shows that the Lord of the vineyard has not yet begun to take away these young and tender branches, but he will. In fact, throughout the allegory, the Lord of the vineyard generally refers to what he is going to do by using the modal verbs will and shall, with will predominating (22 to 5).

There is also considerable evidence in the manuscripts that Oliver Cowdery, the scribe here in Jacob 5 for 𝓞 and 𝓟, sometimes omitted the modal will. In the following four examples, Oliver initially omitted the will in the printer’s manuscript (including one in Jacob 5):

• Jacob 5:76
  • for behold for a long time [NULL > will 1|will ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] I lay up of the fruit of my vineyard unto mine own self
• Alma 18:17
  • therefore whatsoever thou desirest which is right that [NULL > will 1|will ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] I do
• Alma 44:14
  • so shall ye fall to the earth except ye [NULL > will 1|will ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] deliver up your weapons of war
• Helaman 16:21
  • and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we [will 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|NULL >+ will 1] yield ourselves unto them all the days of our lives

For one more (but more complex) example of such an initial omission in 𝓟, see Alma 22:16.