Alma 30:1–2 Textual Variants

The syntax of this whole passage is extremely complex. In the original text (as well as in the current), the initial pair of after- clauses in verse 1 (listed above as 1 and 2) are never completed. Instead, these conjoined after- clauses are interrupted by a long intervening parenthetical clause (“now their dead were not numbered because of the greatness of their numbers / neither were the dead of the Nephites numbered”). This parenthetical clause is then followed by a second pair of after- clauses in the middle of verse 2 (listed above as 3 and 4). This second pair of after- clauses is also followed by its own intervening parenthetical clause (“and it was in the sixteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi”), which adds to the complexity. The entire sentence is finally completed with the independent clause at the end, “there began to be continual peace throughout all the land”.

The 1906 LDS large-print edition attempted to deal with the incompleteness of the first pair of after-clauses in verse 1 by deleting the and before “their dead were buried by the people of the land”. The third printing for the 1905 LDS Chicago edition (in 1907) followed the 1906 edition by deleting this and from the original plates used for the first Chicago printing (in 1905). And the 1911 LDS large-print Chicago edition followed the changed text. On the other hand, the 1920LDS edition restored the and, probably because it was felt that this clause (“and their dead were buried by the people of the land”) actually belonged with the preceding clause (“yea and also after the Lamanites were driven out of the land”). This decision restored the original text, despite the fact that it leaves verse 1 clausally incomplete. The critical text will follow the original reading, despite its complexity.