Alma 19:14 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
now Ammon seeing the Spirit of the Lord poured out according to his prayers upon the Lamanites his brethren which had been the cause of so much mourning among the Nephites or among all the people of God because of their iniquities and their [traditions 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST| tradition > traditions 1]

Although the original manuscript is not very clear here, the reading appears to be the plural traditions. When Oliver Cowdery was copying the text from 𝓞 into 𝓟, he initially wrote the singular tradition, but then soon thereafter he inserted the plural s at the end of tradition. The question of tradition versus traditions is discussed under Mosiah 1:5. For each case of tradition(s), the critical text will follow the earliest textual sources, thus traditions here in Alma 19:14. Also see the discussion under Alma 21:17 for a list of all cases of the expression “tradition(s) of one’s fathers”.

Summary: Retain in Alma 19:14 the original plural reading traditions, as it apparently reads in the original manuscript.

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

References