Mosiah 26:22 Textual Variants

In his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith here removed the relative pronoun that after whosoever. The use of the that appears to be fully intended and will be restored in the critical text. Elsewhere in the text we have two similar cases of “who(m)soever … that”, although in both these cases there is a postmodifying prepositional phrase between the who(m)soever and the that:

• Mosiah 4:28
  • and I would that ye should remember that whosoever among you [that 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS| RT] borroweth of his neighbor should return the thing that he borroweth
• Alma 46:35
  • and it came to pass that whomsoever of the Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom that they might maintain a free government he caused to be put to death

In the first case, the 1920 LDS edition removed the relative pronoun that; this emendation agrees with Joseph Smith’s decision to remove the that here in Mosiah 26:22. As discussed under Mosiah 4:28, there are good reasons for maintaining the that in that passage.

This occurrence of who(m)soever that without any intervening prepositional phrase is strikingly unique in the Book of Mormon text. Nor are there any occurrences of this usage in the King James Bible. The Oxford English Dictionary has examples of the related whoso that (sometimes spelled who so that); this usage seems to have been fairly prevalent in late Middle English:

• Geoffrey Chaucer (about 1374)
  • Who so that ... coueyteth nat to ben deseyuyd by no mys-weyes.
    ‘whoso that ... coveteth not to be deceived by no misways’
• John Maundeville (about 1400)
  • Whoso that wole, may leve me zif he wille;
    ‘whoso that would / may believe me if he will’
• Romaunt of the Rose (about 1400)
  • Who so that hath hadde the subtelte The double sentence for to se.
    ‘whoso that hath had the subtlety the double sense to see’
• Thomas Hoccleve (about 1412)
  • Who so that hatethe moche clappe or speche Quenchethe malice.
    ‘whoso that hateth much clap or speech quencheth malice’

(I wish to thank Don Chapman for help with these Middle English citations.) We should also note that whosoever that is not difficult to understand. Its use here in Mosiah 26:22 seems to be fully intended, and therefore the critical text will restore it. For a related example of that occurring after a wh-word, see under Mosiah 29:6 for the use in 𝓟 of whom that.