Omni 1:23 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
behold I [Ameleki >+ Amaleki 1|Amaleki ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] was born in the days of Mosiah and I have lived [NULL >+ to see his death 1|to see his death ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] and Benjamin his son reigneth in his stead

As discussed under Omni 1:17, Oliver Cowdery made several corrections to the printer’s manuscript with heavier and darker ink flow for this part of the text. Here in verse 23, Oliver corrected his initial spelling Ameleki to Amaleki. Elsewhere, Oliver consistently wrote the correct spelling, Amaleki (twice in this book, earlier in verse 12 and later in verse 30, as well as twice in the Words of Mormon, in verses 3 and 10). Undoubtedly, the original manuscript (no longer extant for any of the book of Omni) read Amaleki, and here in Omni 1:23 Oliver corrected 𝓟 to agree with 𝓞.

Similarly, Oliver Cowdery omitted the infinitive clause “to see his death” when he initially copied the text from 𝓞 into 𝓟. Obviously, the clause “and I have lived” is incomplete without this infinitival complement.

Summary: Maintain in Omni 1:23 the corrected readings in 𝓟: the spelling Amaleki and the inserted infinitive clause “to see his death”; these readings undoubtedly reflect the reading of the original manuscript, no longer extant here.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 2

References