Alma 1:26 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and when their priests left their labor to impart the word of God unto the people the people also left their labors to hear the word of God and when the priest had imparted unto them the word of God they all returned again diligently unto their labors and the priest not esteeming himself above his hearers for the preacher was no better than the hearer neither was the teacher any better than the learner and thus they were all equal and they did all labor every man according to his strength

Alison Coutts has suggested (personal communication, 2 June 2005) that there might be an also missing after the phrase “and the priest” in Alma 1:26 (that is, “and the priest also”). Here we apparently have an instance of the Hebraistic delayed conjoined subject (although it is also possible to interpret “and the priest not esteeming himself above his hearers” as an incomplete participial clause). Most examples in the Book of Mormon text of the delayed conjoined subject have the also, but most lack a verb:

Note that in all but one of these examples, the also comes before the subject noun phrase, which would suggest an alternative emendation for Alma 1:26: “and also the priest”. Despite these examples supporting an also, there is evidence that sometimes the also is omitted from this Hebrew-like construction:

Also note that for these two examples, the delayed conjoined subject lacks a verb, just as in Alma 1:26. For further discussion of the delayed conjoined subject, see under hebraisms in volume 3.

Summary: Retain in Alma 1:26 the Hebraistic delayed conjoined subject “and the priest”; similar examples without either also or a verb can be found elsewhere in the text.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 3

References