Mosiah 14:2 Textual Variants

Isaiah 53:2 (King James Bible)
for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground

The Book of Mormon text is missing the indefinite article a before “dry ground”. This article is found before other noun phrases in the passage (“a tender plant” and “a root”). Hebrew has no indefinite article, so either translation (“a dry ground” or “dry ground”) is possible. The Hebrew word for ground in “dry ground” is the word √ere‚ s, which means that this phrase could also be translated as “(a) dry earth” or “(a) dry land”. If the word land is used in the sense of ‘country’, then we would expect the indefinite article in the English translation. Interestingly, modern translations of Isaiah 53:2 have the a for plant and root (or their equivalents) but not for ground:

• Isaiah 53:2
  • Revised Standard Version (RSV, 1952)
    • for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground
  • New International Version (NIV, 1978)
    • he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground

Elsewhere in the King James Bible we find no other cases of “a dry ground”, only “dry ground” and “the dry ground”—that is, without the indefinite article a:

• Exodus 14:16
  • and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea
• Exodus 14:22
  • and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground
• Joshua 3:17
  • and the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan
• 2 Kings 2:8
  • and Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters and they were divided hither and thither so that they two went over on dry ground
• Psalm 107:33
  • he turneth rivers into a wilderness and the watersprings into dry ground
• Psalm 107:35
  • he turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into watersprings
• Isaiah 44:3
  • for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground

The Book of Mormon refers four times to the crossing of the Red Sea; each time “dry ground” occurs without any a:

• 1 Nephi 4:2 and our fathers came through out of captivity on dry ground
• 1 Nephi 17:26 and they passed through on dry ground
• Mosiah 7:19 that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground
• Helaman 8:11 insomuch that the Israelites … came through upon dry ground

Thus the Book of Mormon’s rendering of “a dry ground” as simply “dry ground” is expected and could, in fact, be intended. The consistent reading without the a will therefore be accepted here in Mosiah 14:2, but with the understanding that the omission of the a could be the result of an early transmission error in the text.

It should also be noted that there are a number of Isaiah passages where the earliest attested Book of Mormon reading differs from the King James text with respect to the occurrence of the indefinite article a:

• 1 Nephi 21:7 (Isaiah 49:7 has a servant)
  • to servant of rulers
• 2 Nephi 7:11 (Isaiah 50:11 has kindle a fire)
  • behold all ye that kindleth fire
• 2 Nephi 8:12 (Isaiah 51:12 has a man)
  • behold who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of man
• 2 Nephi 27:2 (Isaiah 29:6 reads and great noise)
  • and with earthquake and with a great noise

In two of these four cases, the critical text will accept the earliest extant Book of Mormon reading— namely, in 2 Nephi 8:12 (without the a) and in 2 Nephi 27:2 (with the a). In the two other cases, the Isaiah reading will be accepted rather than the earliest extant Book of Mormon reading—namely, in 1 Nephi 21:7 and in 2 Nephi 7:11 (both with the a). Sometimes the omission or the addition of a seems to be intended, other times accidental. We consider each case on its own merits; see under each of these four passages for discussion of the evidence.