Mosiah 11:15 Textual Variants

Here in the printer’s manuscript, Oliver Cowdery initially wrote “he planted a vineyard”, but then almost immediately he crossed out the a and inserted an s inline at the end of vineyard (the level of ink flow is unchanged). The original manuscript undoubtedly read in the plural, especially since it would be difficult for one vineyard to be “round about in the land”. Oliver’s initial phraseology may have been influenced by the parable of the wicked husbandmen in the Synoptic Gospels, which refers to “planting a vineyard”:

• Matthew 21:33 there was a certain householder which planted a vineyard
• Mark 12:1 a certain man planted a vineyard
• Luke 20:9 a certain man planted a vineyard

Less likely is the possibility that Oliver was influenced by the strikingly similar language in Genesis that refers to the biblical Noah:

• Genesis 9:20 and Noah began to be an husbandman and he planted a vineyard