Omni 1:13 Textual Variants

Here in the printer’s manuscript, Oliver Cowdery initially wrote “he did as the Lord commanded him”; then he supralinearly inserted according and had (with the same level of ink flow), giving the final text: “he did according as the Lord had commanded him”. There is nothing grammatically wrong with “he did as the Lord commanded him”. Thus the corrected text undoubtedly represents the reading of the original manuscript, which is no longer extant here.

The phraseology “according as” is unusual in modern-day English and may be considered somewhat redundant. Nonetheless, the Book of Mormon text contains 21 occurrences of this expression (and the King James Bible has 33). In fact, there are seven other occurrences of “according as” where the following clause contains the past perfect auxiliary had:

• Alma 8:1
  • having established the order of the church according as he had before done in the land of Zarahemla
• Alma 19:7
  • therefore he went in to see the king according as the queen had desired him
• Alma 25:11
  • now this is what he meant that many should suffer death by fire according as he had suffered
• Alma 25:14 (with ellipsis of “buried their weapons of war”)
  • and they did also bury their weapons of war according as their brethren had
• Helaman 9:37
  • they went and did even according as Nephi had said unto them
• 3 Nephi 1:15
  • the words which came unto Nephi was fulfilled according as they had been spoken
• Ether 2:21
  • the brother of Jared did so according as the Lord had commanded

Thus there is nothing wrong with the corrected reading for Omni 1:13 in the printer’s manuscript.