Alma 11:36 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
now Amulek saith again unto him behold thou hast lied for thou sayest that I [speak 0|𝓢① spake > 𝓢② speak 1|spake ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins

Scribe 2 of 𝓟 changed the reading of the original manuscript (which is extant here in Alma 11:36) from the present-tense speak to the past-tense spake. While proofing the printer’s manuscript, Oliver Cowdery restored the present-tense speak. But the 1830 typesetter reverted to the past-tense spake that scribe 2 originally wrote in 𝓟. As discussed above under Alma 11:35, either the present tense or the past tense is possible when Zeezrom and Amulek quote each other. We therefore follow the earliest textual sources here in Alma 11:36—namely, the present-tense speak.

Summary: Restore the present-tense speak in Alma 11:36, the reading of the original manuscript.

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

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