Alma 13:11 Textual Variants

Spacing between extant fragments of 𝓞 suggests that the subject pronoun they could have occurred before were sanctified; that is, 𝓞 may have read “they were called after this holy order and they were sanctified”. Or perhaps Oliver Cowdery initially wrote “and they were sanctified” in 𝓞 but then crossed out the they. Either reading will, of course, work here in Alma 13:11. There is one clear case where scribe 2 of 𝓟 omitted the subject pronoun they, and that was only momentary:

• Mosiah 25:16
  • and he did exhort the people of Limhi and his brethren all those that had been delivered out of bondage that [NULL > they 1|they ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] should remember that it was the Lord that did deliver them

On the other hand, we have two cases in 𝓟 where Oliver Cowdery initially added an extra they to the text, then deleted it virtually immediately (that is, without any change in the level of ink flow):

• Helaman 5:23
  • and they were as standing in the midst of fire and [NULL > they > NULL 1| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] were not burned
• 3 Nephi 11:8
  • and they durst not open their mouths even one to another and [they > NULL 1| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] wist not what it meant

The last example shows that in Alma 13:11 Oliver could have initially written “and they were sanctified” in 𝓞 but then crossed out the they.

Since either reading, with or without the they, is possible here in Alma 13:11, the safest solution is to follow the earliest extant text, namely the reading in 𝓟. The critical text will therefore assume (based on spacing between extant fragments in 𝓞) that Oliver Cowdery momentarily wrote “and they were sanctified” in 𝓞, then he crossed out the they.