Mosiah 5:4 Textual Variants

Here the 1840 edition changed the conjunction and to that. The second printing of the 1852 LDS edition adopted the 1840 reading, which has subsequently remained in the LDS text. The 1908 RLDS edition restored the original and to the RLDS text since the change was not marked in the printer’s manuscript.

The problem in interpreting the earliest reading is that the reader needs to determine the subject for the conjoined predicate “hath brought us to this great knowledge”. There are three possibilities:

• our king
• the things which our king hath spoken unto us
• the faith which we have had on the things which our king hath spoken unto us

Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, there are a number of examples where individuals or written records bring people to knowledge, but there is no example of a passage explicitly stating that faith brings one to knowledge (although it is undoubtedly true):

an individual or individuals

• Mosiah 23:10
  • nevertheless after much tribulation the Lord did hear my cries and did answer my prayers and hath made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth
• Mosiah 27:36
  • and thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth yea to the knowledge of their Redeemer
• Mosiah 28:2
  • that perhaps they might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers
• Alma 17:4
  • and they had been teaching the word of God for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth
• Alma 17:9
  • and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them and abide with them that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring—if it were possible—their brethren the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth
• Alma 21:17
  • and it came to pass that the Lord began to bless them insomuch that they brought many to the knowledge of the truth
• Alma 26:24
  • do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth
• Helaman 9:41
  • and even he hath brought unto our knowledge the true murderer of our chief judge
• Helaman 15:6
  • and they are striving with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth
• 3 Nephi 5:23
  • and surely shall he again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the Lord their God

written records

• 2 Nephi 3:7 (referring to the Book of Mormon)
  • and unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins his brethren which shall be of great worth unto them even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers
• 2 Nephi 3:12 (referring to the Book of Mormon and the Bible)
  • wherefore the fruit of thy loins shall write and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah shall grow together unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days
• Alma 37:8–10 (referring to the plates of brass and the Nephite records)
  • and now it hath hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved for behold they have enlarged the memory of this people yea and convinced many of the error of their ways and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls yea I say unto you were it not for these things that these records do contain which are on these plates 
    Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers yea these records and their words brought them unto repentance that is / they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer and who knoweth but what they will be the means of bringing many thousands of them yea and also many thousands of our stiff-necked brethren the Nephites which are now hardening their hearts in sins and iniquities to the knowledge of their Redeemer

Thus usage elsewhere in the text argues that the most reasonable subject for “hath brought us to this great knowledge” in Mosiah 5:4 is either the king or the things which he had spoken unto them. (There are also ten passive examples for which it is not explicitly stated who or what is bringing the knowledge, as in Mosiah 27:14: “that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth”.)

Selecting our king as the subject of “hath brought us to this great knowledge” causes a grammatical difficulty: namely, the resulting relative clause “which our king … hath brought us to this great knowledge” has two direct objects, which and us. On the other hand, if the subject is the things, we end up conjoining two relative clauses for which the second relative pronoun is ellipted: “the things which our king hath spoken unto us and [which] hath brought us to this great knowledge”. Elsewhere in the text there are numerous passages where a subject relative pronoun occurs at the head of the conjunctive construction and each subsequent ellipted relative pronoun, if expressed, would represent the subject in the conjoined relative clause. Here are some examples where the conjoined predicates begin with the perfect auxiliary have (as in Mosiah 5:4):

• 1 Nephi 15:30
  • and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire which ascendeth up unto God forever and ever and hath no end
• Mosiah 2:20
  • if you should render all the thanks and praise ... to that God who hath created you and hath kept and preserved you and hath caused that ye should rejoice and hath granted that ye should live in peace one with another
• Alma 26:36
  • yea blessed is the name of my God who hath been mindful of this people which are a branch of the tree of Israel and hath been lost from its body in a strange land

The one significant difference between these examples and the earliest reading in Mosiah 5:4 is that the initial which in Mosiah 5:4 is an object relative pronoun (“which our king hath spoken unto us”) but the ellipted one is a subject relative pronoun (“and [which] hath brought us to this great knowledge”). Such a construction does seem rather unusual, although not impossible.

Of course, the Book of Mormon text also has specific examples where the relative pronoun is repeated, as in the following two examples from the book of Mosiah:

• Mosiah 12:20
  • what meaneth the words which are written and which have been taught by our fathers saying …
• Mosiah 21:26
  • nevertheless they did find a land which had been peopled yea a land which was covered with dry bones yea a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed

Such examples suggest a possible emendation to Mosiah 5:4, that of adding the relative pronoun which after the original and:

• Mosiah 5:4 (possible emendation)
  • and it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king hath spoken unto us and which hath brought us to this great knowledge whereby we do rejoice with such exceeding great joy

Of course, this emendation is ambiguous since it allows the possibility that this additional which could refer to the faith as well as to the things (in the original Book of Mormon text hath can be used with plural subjects). And in accord with the original language of the Book of Mormon, the relative pronoun which could also refer to the king. We should also note that this conjectural emendation assumes that at some point in the early transmission of the text the repeated relative pronoun which was accidentally omitted. Nonetheless, there is no textual evidence in the manuscripts or in the transmission of the text for the accidental omission of a repeated relative pronoun.

The 1840 change from and to that can be viewed as an attempt to assign the predicate “hath brought us to this great knowledge” to the faith—that is, “it is the faith … that hath brought us to this great knowledge”. Usage elsewhere in the text, however, argues that it is actually the whereby-clause at the end that serves to complete the initial clause “it is the faith”. In the earliest reading (the one with the and rather than the that), the whereby-clause completes the sentence. This kind of construction (namely, an existential be-clause completed by a whereby-clause) occurs ten times in the Book of Mormon text (here I include the example from Mosiah 5:4, with its earliest reading):

• 2 Nephi 25:20
  • there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ of which I have spoken whereby man can be saved
• 2 Nephi 31:21
  • and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God
• Mosiah 3:17
  • there shall be no other name given nor no other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men only in and through the name of Christ the Lord Omnipotent
• Mosiah 4:8 (two occurrences)
  • and this is the means whereby salvation cometh and there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of neither is there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you
• Mosiah 5:4
  • and it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king hath spoken unto us and hath brought us to this great knowledge whereby we do rejoice with such exceeding great joy
• Mosiah 5:8 (two occurrences)
  • and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free there is no other name given whereby salvation cometh
• Alma 38:9
  • there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved only in and through Christ
• Helaman 5:9
  • yea remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ which shall come

Most of these existential clauses are negatives; in fact, the negative ones occur only with the existential there. The two positive ones do not use the existential there: “this is the means whereby salvation cometh” (Mosiah 4:8) and “it is the faith ... whereby we do rejoice with such exceeding great joy” (Mosiah 5:4). The use of an existential clause completed by a whereby-clause seems to be a characteristic of king Benjamin’s style (since six out of the ten occurrences in the Book of Mormon come from him, counting the one in Mosiah 5:4).

Ultimately, the most reasonable interpretation is that the conjoined predicate “and hath brought us to this great knowledge” refers to the things. This predicate does not appear to refer to our king since the resulting construction would then end up with two direct objects for the verb bring. Two facts argue against interpreting the conjoined predicate as referring to the faith: usage elsewhere in the Book of Mormon provides no examples of faith bringing knowledge, but there are quite a few passages that refer to either individuals or scriptures bringing knowledge; and (2) the whereby-clause at the end of the verse serves to complete the initial existential reference to faith.

In order to facilitate the reading of this passage, the standard text could insert the relative pronoun which at the beginning of the conjoined predicate (thus minimally revising the text to read “the things which our king hath spoken unto us and which hath brought us to this great knowledge”). The critical text will, on the other hand, maintain the earliest reading: “the things which our king hath spoken unto us and hath brought us to this great knowledge”, with the understanding that the conjoined predicate refers to the things, not the faith or the king. Although this is a difficult reading and may be unique to the text, it is not impossible and may therefore represent the original text.