Mosiah 29:5 Textual Variants

In the 1920 LDS edition, the conjunction for in front of “I desire” was deleted in order to create an independent clause for this passage. One could view the for here as the result of an early error in the text, perhaps the result of there being two other instances of the conjunction for in this passage. The 1920 edition made the same emendation later in the text:

• Ether 1:34
  • and the brother of Jared being a large and a mighty man and [being 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS| RT] a man highly favored of the Lord [ for 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS| RT] Jared his brother said unto him …

In this instance, the 1920 edition also deleted a repeated being, but ultimately the purpose for deleting the conjunction for was to create an independent clause for the passage. Note in this second example that there is no other for in the passage that could have prompted the for that does occur. In fact, both Mosiah 29:5 and Ether 1:34 are similar in that the for comes between a preceding subordinate clause and the following main clause. In Mosiah 29:5, we have the parenthetical clause “for I esteem you as such”, which modifies the noun phrase “my brethren”; in Ether 1:34, we have the conjunctive present participial clause “being a large and a mighty man and being a man highly favored of the Lord”, which modifies the preceding noun phrase “the brother of Jared”. These two examples suggest that the for is being intentionally used to separate the preceding parenthetical clause from the following main clause. For this reason, the critical text will restore the for in both Mosiah 29:5 and Ether 1:34.

It should also be pointed out that the conjunction for is frequently repeated in the Book of Mormon, including the following case where we get six occurrences in a row:

• Moroni 7:5–8
  • for I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them for if their works be good then they are good also for behold God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good for if he offereth a gift or prayeth unto God except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing for behold it is not counted unto him for righteousness for behold if a man being evil giveth a gift he doeth it grudgingly

The multiple use of the conjunction for often seems to be acting more as a simple separator between clauses rather than as a chain of explanation between the clauses.

David Calabro (personal communication) provides another type of example where for is used more as a simple separator—namely, in the narrative-initial clausal construction “for it came to pass”:

• 1 Nephi 1:3–4
  • and I know that the record which I make to be true and I make it with mine own hand and I make it according to my knowledge for it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah my father Lehi having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days …
• 1 Nephi 10:22 –11:1
  • and the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things and deny them not for it came to pass that after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen …
• Mosiah 26:5–6
  • and now in the reign of Mosiah they were not half so numerous as the people of God but because of the dissensions among the brethren they became more numerous for it came to pass that they did deceive many with their flattering words which were in the church and did cause them to commit many sins
• Ether 6:1–2
  • And now I Moroni proceed to give the record of Jared and his brother for it came to pass after that the Lord had prepared the stones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount …