Mosiah 2:36 Textual Variants

We have two cases here of minor variation. The 1841 British edition replaced the preposition in with into, and the 1953 RLDS edition replaced the plural paths with the singular path.

The preposition into is not impossible. In fact, there are two instances in the text referring to going into a path:

• 1 Nephi 8:28 and they fell away into forbidden paths
• 2 Nephi 31:19 after that ye have got into this straight and narrow path

On the other hand, most instances refer to being in a path (15 times, counting Mosiah 2:36). We have the following instances where path is in the plural:

• 1 Nephi 16:5 that they would walk in the paths of righteousness
• 2 Nephi 12:3 and we will walk in his paths (quoting Isaiah 2:3)
• Alma 7:9 and walk in his paths which are straight
• Alma 7:19 ye are in the paths of righteousness
• Alma 7:20 he cannot walk in crooked paths
• Helaman 12:5 how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths

The last example uses the exact same noun phrase (“in wisdom’s paths”) as Mosiah 2:36 does. Interestingly, for this example in Helaman 12:5, the 1906 LDS large-print edition replaced “in wisdom’s paths” with “in wisdom’s path” —but the 1953 RLDS edition did not. Perhaps this sporadic replacement of paths with path is influenced by the idea that there is only one path of wisdom. In any event, the change to the singular path is not consistently applied. The two original instances of “in wisdom’s paths” support each other in the choice of the preposition in and in the use of the plural paths.