Omni 1:10 Textual Variants

Here in Omni 1:10, the earliest form of the text here has a repeated use of I in “I Abinadom I”. In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith eliminated the second I. There are no examples elsewhere in the text of “behold I I ”, but there are 13 instances of “behold I ”, including one later in the book of Omni:

• 1 Nephi 1:20 but behold I Nephi will shew unto you that …
• 1 Nephi 14:28 and behold I Nephi am forbidden that …
• 1 Nephi 22:27 and now behold I Nephi say unto you that …
• 2 Nephi 25:6 but behold I Nephi have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews
• Jacob 3:1 but behold I Jacob would speak unto you that are pure in heart
• Jacob 7:7 and now behold I Sherem declare unto you that …
• Jarom 1:1 now behold I Jarom write a few words
• Omni 1:23 behold I Amaleki was born in the days of Mosiah
• Alma 60:34 and now behold I Moroni am constrained …
• Helaman 13:5 behold I Samuel a Lamanite do speak the words of the Lord
• Mormon 5:8 and now behold I Mormon do not desire to harrow up the souls of men
• Mormon 6:6 behold I Mormon began to be old
• Mormon 8:1 behold I Moroni do finish the record of my father Mormon

The King James Bible also has one example of this expression: “behold I Paul say unto you” (Galatians 5:2). More generally, in the Book of Mormon text there are no examples of such a repeated I for 165 other cases of I followed by a name.

Joseph’s emendation in Omni 1:10 is therefore supported by the systematic use of “I  ” elsewhere in the text. This textual evidence suggests that the repeated I in the earliest reading is an error in the earliest transmission of the text (𝓞 is not extant here). On the other hand, there are no other occurrences in the transmission of the text of a repeated I being accidentally added, especially since such usage is obviously unusual. In fact, the tendency is the opposite—namely, to remove the few repetitions that are found in the text. See, for instance, the discussion regarding the two occurrences of “I I am the Lord’s” in 2 Nephi 28:3.

As noted in the discussion of “I I am the Lord’s” under 2 Nephi 28:3, there are a few cases of repeated I for which there is a single word separating the two I ’s:

• 2 Nephi 3:18
  • and I behold I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins unto the fruit of thy loins
• Mosiah 2:26
  • and I even I whom ye call your king am no better than ye yourselves are
• Mosiah 10:10
  • and I even I in my old age did go up to battle against the Lamanites
• Mormon 8:3
  • and I even I remaineth alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people

These two types, “I even I” and “I behold I”, are also found in the King James Bible, with 19 occurrences of “I even I” and 5 of “I behold I”. Among these, there are two occurrences of the form “I even I ”:

• Ezra 7:21
  • and I even I Artaxerxes the king do make a decree to all the treasurers
• Daniel 8:15
  • and it came to pass when I even I Daniel had seen the vision and sought for the meaning then behold there stood before me as the appearance of a man

The earliest reading in Omni 1:10, with its difference in word order (“I I ”), could thus be considered a variant of the same basic formulation but without the even. Although the expression “behold I Abinadom I” is unique in the Book of Mormon, the critical text will accept this unusual, but not impossible, reading.