Alma 13:4 Textual Variants

Here in the printer’s manuscript, scribe 2 wrote “they might had as great privilege as their brethren”. Oliver Cowdery, when he proofed 𝓟 against 𝓞, crossed out the had and then supralinearly wrote had —that is, he made no change at all. Perhaps Oliver intended to write have had but accidentally ended up writing only the had. Another possibility is that Oliver expected have had, but when he started to correct 𝓟 (by crossing out the had ), he noticed that 𝓞 itself had only the had, and he therefore decided to follow the reading in 𝓞.

The earliest reading without the have seems quite odd here, although it is true that all the various editions printed “they might had” until the 1906 LDS edition (for the LDS text) and the 1953 RLDS edition (for the RLDS text). For modern readers, the expression appears to be an error, thus the textual emendation in the 20th century.

Elsewhere the text has examples of “ have had” but none of “ had”:

• 2 Nephi 2:22–23
  • and they must have remained forever and had no end and they would have had no children
• Helaman 7:7
  • O that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem
• Helaman 7:8
  • yea if my days could have been in them days then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren
• Mormon 4:4
  • for were it not for that the Lamanites could have had no power over them
• Mormon 9:33
  • and if we could have written in the Hebrew behold ye would have had none imperfection in our record

Except for the earliest text here in Alma 13:4, there are no examples of “ had” in the Book of Mormon text.

Yet we can find considerable evidence for the expression “might had” in earlier English, as in the following examples from Literature Online ; here the accidentals have been regularized:

• Edmund Elviden (about 1570)
  that if by sufferance he might had the full of his desire
• Robert Baker (1589)
  if they truly on us might had their will
• Thomas Ravenscroft (1609)
  where you might had your will of me
• Francis Quarles (1646)
  I thought my rules might had the grace to stand
• Richard Brome (1659)
  his wife by whom he might had comfort in progeny
• Thomas Porter (1664)
  in my old mistress’ time I might had a knight of Calatrava
• Charles Hopkins (1695)
  you might had the same for the same action
• Mary Pix (1697)
  the devil might had her sweetness for me
• Richard Henry Stoddard (1877)
  you might had your pick had you waited

Most of the examples date from the late 1500s through the 1600s; there is one in the last part of the 19th century but none in the 20th century. This example from the 19th century could explain why the expression “they might had” in Alma 13:4 was left unchanged in the printed editions until the 20th century. In modern English, of course, we expect “might have had” in all the above citations. The critical text will restore the original but unique use of “might had” in Alma 13:4.