Alma 11:44 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
but [all things 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQS|all thing > all things 1|every thing RT] shall be restored to its perfect frame as it is now or in the body

The original text allows for all things to be referred to by means of the singular pronoun it. Here in Alma 11:44, all things is followed by two instances of it (“its perfect frame as it is now or in the body”). The 1920 LDS edition emended all things to every thing, thus making sure that the following its and it would agree with the antecedent subject. In a similar instance of this usage later on in the text, Joseph Smith emended the singular pronominal determiner to the plural in order to obtain number agreement:

For related discussion involving this particular problem in number agreement, see under Alma 11:41 and Alma 41:4 (also see the discussion under 1 Nephi 17:50). The critical text will, of course, restore the original use of all things here in Alma 11:44: “all things shall be restored to its perfect frame as it is now or in the body”.

Summary: Restore in Alma 11:44 the original plural all things even though the following predicate uses the singular it to refer to all things; such disagreement in number is found elsewhere in the original text.

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

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