Enos 1:17 Textual Variants

The 1830 typesetter accidentally omitted the subordinate conjunction that. Elsewhere in the original text, we have ten occurrences of “knew that it”, including this nearby one:

• Jacob 5:22
  • I knew that it was a poor spot of ground

The earliest text has two occurrences without the that:

• 3 Nephi 4:33
  • and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction
• 3 Nephi 5:2
  • and because of the things which had come to pass already they knew [ 1A|that BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] it must needs be that all things should come to pass according to that which had been spoken

For the example in 3 Nephi 5:2, the 1837 edition added the that to “they knew it must needs be”, probably because of the influence of the preceding “they knew that it must be expedient that Christ had come” that occurs earlier in the verse.

Since the that appears to be optional (although predominate) in “X knew (that) it”, in each case we let the earliest textual sources determine the original reading. Thus the original that will be restored in Enos 1:17, but the intrusive that will be removed from 3 Nephi 5:2. For further discussion of the use of the subordinate conjunction that after various verbs (including the verb know), see under that in volume 3.