Mosiah 9:4 Textual Variants

Normally in the Book of Mormon, the preposition near is directly followed by its noun phrase complement—that is, without any additional preposition. For instance, there are three occurrences of “near the land” (Helaman 4:5, Mormon 2:17, and Ether 7:6). But here in Mosiah 9:4 we get “near to the land”. Usage elsewhere shows that near followed by another preposition is possible, although not overly common:

• 1 Nephi 4:7
  • and as I came near unto the house of Laban I beheld a man
• 1 Nephi 20:16 (quoting Isaiah 48:16)
  • come ye near unto me
• 2 Nephi 27:25 (quoting Isaiah 29:13, which reads “draw near me”)
  • forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth …
• Alma 58:13
  • and we did pitch our tents by the wilderness side which was near to the city
• Helaman 5:25
  • neither durst they come near unto them
• Helaman 7:10
  • therefore as Nephi had bowed himself upon the tower which was in his garden which tower was also near unto the garden gate which led by the highway
• 3 Nephi 24:5 (quoting Malachi 3:5, which reads “near to you”)
  • and I will come near to you to judgment
• Ether 15:8
  • and Shiz also pitched his tents near unto them

Note that the examples in Alma 58:13 and Ether 15:8, like Mosiah 9:4, refer to pitching tents—and the prepositional expression is the same near to in Alma 58:13 (but near unto in Ether 15:8).