Mosiah 9:3 Textual Variants

Here in the printer’s manuscript, Oliver Cowdery initially started to write an s at the end of affliction, with the loop at the top of the s just starting, when he suddenly aborted his partially begun s but without either crossing it out or erasing it. This aborted s definitely suggests that Oliver initially intended to write the plural afflictions in 𝓟, but then he changed his mind in favor of the singular affliction. The 1830 typesetter, however, interpreted the partially begun s in 𝓟 as a bona fide s; thus the 1830 edition and all subsequent editions read with the plural afflictions. Most probably, the original manuscript (not extant here) read in the singular, yet even that might have been an error since Oliver sometimes failed to add the plural s as he took down Joseph Smith’s dictation, as in the following example from 𝓞 where Oliver initially wrote down the singular instead of the correct plural afflictions:

• 1 Nephi 16:35
  • and it came to pass that the daughters of Ishmael did mourn exceedingly because of the loss of their father and because of their [affliction > afflictions 0| afflictions 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] in the wilderness

Here in the book of Mosiah there are some other examples of affliction(s) conjoined with famine or modified by sore:

• Mosiah 1:17
  • and therefore they were smitten with famine and sore afflictions
• Mosiah 7:28
  • therefore who wondereth that they are in bondage and that they are smitten with sore afflictions
• Mosiah 12:4
  • I will smite this my people with sore afflictions yea with famine and with pestilence

These examples show that except for the one example here in Mosiah 9:3, the book of Mosiah favors the plural afflictions. But elsewhere the text favors the singular affliction in the immediate context of sore or famine (providing there is a choice in number):

• Alma 53:7
  • but he did employ his men in preparing for war … yea and also delivering their women and their children from famine and affliction
• Alma 61:4
  • and they have led away the hearts of many people which will be the cause of sore affliction among us
• Alma 62:39
  • and thus they had had wars and bloodsheds and famine and affliction for the space of many years

So for the whole text, we get variation for affliction(s). This variation argues that in each case the earliest textual sources should determine the number for affliction. Therefore, the critical text will accept the singular affliction in Mosiah 9:3. For further discussion regarding the variation in number for affliction, see under 1 Nephi 16:35.