Mosiah 9:1–2 Textual Variants

Ultimately, this complex sentence never achieves closure. Such incomplete sentences were rather common in the original text, and some of them can be found in the current text (see, for instance, the discussion under Enos 1:3). In addition, this passage in Mosiah originally had two occurrences of “I having”; in his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith deleted the repeated subject pronoun I so that there would only be the initial “I Zeniff having” followed by two instances of “and having”. The repeated “I having” of the original text seems somewhat unusual, especially since elsewhere in the text conjoined participial clauses involving having do not typically repeat the subject, as in the following well-known example from the beginning of the Book of Mormon:

• 1 Nephi 1:1
  • I Nephi having been born of goodly parents
    therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father
    and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days
    nevertheless having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days
    yea having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God
    therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days

Despite examples like this, there is one long example, again of an incomplete sentence, where a pronominal form of the original subject is repeated once (marked below with an arrow) within a series of many occurrences of the present participle having:

• Alma 9:19–22 (earliest extant text)
  •   he would rather suffer that the Lamanites might destroy all this people
      which is called the people of Nephi
      if it were possible that they could fall into sins and transgressions
      after having had so much light and so much knowledge given unto them
      of the Lord their God
      yea after having been such a highly favored people of the Lord
      yea after having been favored above every other nation kindred tongue or people
      after having had all things made known unto them …
      having been visited by the Spirit of God
      having conversed with angels
      and having been spoken unto by the voice of the Lord
      and having the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of revelation and also many gifts …
      yea and after having been delivered of God out of the land of Jerusalem
      by the hand of the Lord
      having been saved from famine and from sicknesses
      and all manner of diseases of every kind
    → and they having been waxed strong in battle
      that they might not be destroyed
      having been brought out of bondage time after time
      and having been kept and preserved until now …

(There is some question here whether the clause marked with the arrow, “they having been waxed strong in battle”, is an error for “they having waxed strong in battle”. For discussion, see under Alma 9:22.) This example from the book of Alma shows that the original reading in Mosiah 9:1 is clearly possible.

It is also worth noting that in Mosiah 9:1 the first two participial clauses are more closely associated with each other in that they both describe Zeniff ’s knowledge. One could argue that the subject I is not repeated at first because both participial clauses refer to Zeniff’s qualifications. The third having-clause, however, refers to Zeniff having been sent out as a spy. Since this clause is more germane to the story, it is distinguished from the first two having-clauses by repeating the subject I. Given this relationship, the removal of the I is not necessary. Of course, the removal of the original I in Mosiah 9:1 does not correct the fragmented opening to Zeniff’s record. In any event, the critical text will restore the repeated I in Mosiah 9:1.