Mosiah 2:1–2 Textual Variants

The 1858 Wright edition replaced the plural were with the singular was, probably because the following delayed subject was in the singular (“a great number”). The 1874 RLDS edition did not follow this grammatical emendation, but continued with the were of the 1840 edition. Of course, “a great number” implies ‘a great number of people’, for which the plural is acceptable. Elsewhere in the text we find examples of both singular and plural verb forms for the construction “there was /were a number (of X)”:

• Omni 1:27
  • for there was a large number which were desirous to possess the land of their inheritance
• Mosiah 18:7
  • and it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together to the place of Mormon to hear the words of Alma
• Mosiah 20:2
  • and it came to pass that there was one day a small number of them gathered together to sing and to dance
• Mosiah 21:17
  • now there was a great number of women more than there was of men
• Helaman 11:24
  • there were a certain number of the dissenters from the people of Nephi which had some years before gone over unto the Lamanites and took upon themselves the name of Lamanites

None of these examples are extant in 𝓞. In each case, there has never been any variation in the textual history for the number of the be verb. We consequently follow the earliest reading in each case, thus retaining the original were in Mosiah 2:2.