Alma 5:24–25 Textual Variants

In this long passage, Joseph Smith deleted the awkward or also, probably because the third suppose- clause (“ye cannot suppose that such an one can have place in the kingdom of heaven”) does not refer to the immediately preceding suppose-clause (“or suppose that he is a liar from the beginning”). The except-clause (which contains the second suppose-clause) refers to the immediately preceding nay, while the third suppose-clause actually refers all the way back to the first suppose-clause at the beginning of verse 24; notice that both the first and the third suppose-clauses use parallel language: “such an one can have (a) place (to sit down) in the kingdom of God/heaven”. The original 1830 punctuation made this relationship fairly clear:

• Alma 5:24–25 (original text, with 1830 punctuation)
  • behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed, and are spotless, pure and white?
    I say unto you, nay, except ye make our Creator a liar from the beginning, or suppose that he is a liar from the beginning;
    or also, ye cannot suppose that such an one can have place in the kingdom of heaven, but they shall be cast out, for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil.

The critical text will therefore restore the original or also since it is intentionally used to refer the reader back to the parallel suppose-clause in verse 24, the one listed above as (1).