Here scribe 2 of 𝓟 seems to have accidentally omitted the pronoun for the preposition upon: namely, the me which Oliver Cowdery supplied when he proofed 𝓟 against 𝓞. The expression “to lay one’s hands upon” without an object for the preposition upon does not seem totally impossible but is definitely unusual, which could have motivated Oliver here to simply supply the me on his own. Another case where the earliest reading is missing the pronominal object for a preposition is found earlier in the text:
Here scribe 3 of 𝓞 seems to have omitted the pronoun me after against; in this instance, Oliver supplied on his own the me. (Once the dictation was over, there was no proofing of 𝓞 against some other text.) As argued under 1 Nephi 7:20, evidence elsewhere in the text supports the occurrence of me after against for that passage.
There is considerable evidence in the textual history for the occasional loss of a pronominal object after a preposition. In all cases but one, each particular error has been restricted to a single textual source (the exception is marked below with an arrow):
location | prepositional phrase | source(s) without pronoun |
1 Nephi 7:20 | against me | 𝓞* (scribe 3) |
Mosiah 3:2 | before me | 1858W |
Mosiah 12:26 | unto you | 1830 |
Mosiah 15:11 | unto you | 1830 |
Mosiah 29:6 | upon him | 1858W |
Alma 2:21 | against them | 𝓟* (scribe 2) |
Alma 9:32 | upon me | 𝓟* (scribe 2) |
Alma 31:7 | with him | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Alma 32:29 | unto you | 1840 |
Alma 32:35 | unto you | 1840 |
Alma 42:27 | unto him | 𝓞* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Alma 44:5 | over you | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Alma 47:29 | after them | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Alma 54:9 | upon you | 𝓞* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Helaman 4:24 | from them | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
location | prepositional phrase | source(s) without pronoun |
Helaman 7:27 | unto you | 1837 |
Helaman 15:1 | unto you | 1841 |
3 Nephi 11:29 | unto you | 1837 |
3 Nephi 20:14 | unto you | 𝓟* (scribe 2) |
3 Nephi 21:1 | among them | 𝓟* (scribe 2) |
→3 Nephi 21:9 | among them | 1837, 1841 |
3 Nephi 27:14 | before me | 𝓟* (scribe 2) |
Ether 3:11 | unto him | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Ether 8:10 | before him | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
Ether 11:6 | among them | 𝓟* (Oliver Cowdery) |
In the manuscripts, these missing pronouns were all initial errors (marked as either 𝓞* or 𝓟*) and were soon supplied by the scribe. In the Book of Mormon, all prepositions require an object; thus expressions like “to do something against null” or “to lay one’s hands (up)on null” are never found. There is not one example in the text where the object of a preposition appears to be intentionally lacking.
Summary: Accept in Alma 9:32 the pronominal object that Oliver Cowdery supplied in 𝓟; occasionally pronominal objects after prepositions were temporarily omitted in the transmission of the text.