Alma 13:30 Textual Variants

Here we have an interesting error in the 1888 LDS edition—namely, the replacement of bound with bowed. This misreading was not transferred into subsequent LDS editions since the 1888 edition was never used as a copytext. Theoretically, “bowed down by the chains of hell” is possible; note the occurrences of passive “bowed down” in two Isaiah passages quoted in the Book of Mormon:

• 2 Nephi 12:11 and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down
• 2 Nephi 12:17 and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down

When referring to chains, the text otherwise uses the verb bind, never the expression “bowed down”:

• 2 Nephi 1:13 and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound
• 2 Nephi 1:13 which are the chains which bind the children of men
• 2 Nephi 1:23 shake off the chains with which ye are bound
• 2 Nephi 9:45 shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast

The critical text will, of course, continue with bound in Alma 13:30 (“that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell”).