Mosiah 14:4 Textual Variants

Isaiah 53:4 (King James Bible) surely he hath borne our griefs

Here the 1837 edition replaced hath with has, yet this change could be an error since it was not marked by Joseph Smith in his editing of the printer’s manuscript for the 1837 edition. Moreover, throughout this quotation of Isaiah 53, none of the five other examples of hath have ever been changed to has:

• verse 1 who hath believed our report
• verse 2 he hath no form nor comeliness
• verse 6 and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all
• verse 10 he hath put him to grief
• verse 12 because he hath poured out his soul unto death

Only rarely in the preceding biblical quotations has hath been changed to has in the editions:

• 1 Nephi 20:17 (1837 change)
  • the Lord thy God ... [hath 01ART|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS] done it
• 2 Nephi 16:7 (1830 change)
  • this [hath 1|has ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] touched thy lips

Both of these changes were probably accidental. The first occurred in the 1837 edition but was not marked by Joseph Smith in 𝓟; the second occurred in the 1830 edition. See both of those passages for further discussion.

As far as the change in Mosiah 14:4 is concerned, it should be pointed out that in the next chapter of Mosiah we have eight cases where the 1837 edition changed hath to has (although only half of these were marked by Joseph Smith in 𝓟); one of these cites Isaiah 53:4 once more, although paraphrastically (marked below with an arrow):

• Mosiah 15:11
  •   behold I say unto you that
      whosoever [hath >js has 1|hath A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] heard the words of the prophets …
• Mosiah 15:12
  •   for these are they whose sins
    → he [hath 1A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] borne
      these are they for whom
      he [hath >js has 1|hath A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] died
• Mosiah 15:18
  •   yea even the Lord
      who [hath >js has 1|hath A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] redeemed his people
      yea him who [hath 1A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] granted salvation unto his people
• Mosiah 15:23
  •   they are raised to dwell with God
      who [hath >js has 1|hath A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] redeemed them
      thus they have eternal life through Christ
      who [hath 1A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] broken the bands of death
• Mosiah 15:27
  •   for he cannot deny justice
      when it [hath 1A|has BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] its claim

In contrast to this intentional editing in Mosiah 15, the single change earlier in Mosiah 14:4 appears to be unintentional. In any case, the critical text will restore the original hath, not only in Mosiah 14:4 but in all the examples cited above from Mosiah 15. For further discussion, see under infl al endings in volume 3.