Alma 31:9 Textual Variants

Oliver Cowdery later inserted of God in 𝓞 (the level of ink flow for the supralinear correction is slightly heavier). It is possible that of God represents editing on Oliver’s part: the occurrence of his in the conjoined structure “the commandments and his statutes” is a difficult reading since there is no immediate antecedent for the his, although God does appear in the preceding verse:

• Alma 21:8–9 (initial text in 𝓞)
  • therefore they had the word of God preached unto them but they had fell into great errors for they would not observe to keep the commandments and his statutes according to the law of Moses

Of course, Oliver’s addition of the phrase of God may have been virtually immediate; he could have simply redipped his pen before inserting the correct of God. It’s also possible that Oliver discovered that the phrase of God was missing after reading back the text to Joseph Smith.

Elsewhere, whenever his modifies conjuncts of commandments and statutes, there is a nearby preceding occurrence of Lord or God that the his refers to:

• Mosiah 6:6
  • and it came to pass that king Mosiah did walk in the ways of the Lord and did observe his judgments and his statutes and did keep his commandments in all things whatsoever he commanded him
• Alma 25:14
  • and they began to be a righteous people and they did walk in the ways of the Lord and did observe to keep his commandments and his statutes
• Helaman 6:34
  • and thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief and grow in wickedness and abominations while the Lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God yea they did begin to keep his statutes and commandments and to walk in truth and uprightness before him
• Helaman 15:5
  • and I would that ye should behold that the more part of them are in the path of their duty and they do walk circumspectly before God and they do observe to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments according to the law of Moses

The last example (from Helaman 15:5) suggests another possible emendation for Alma 31:9: namely, “for they would not observe to keep his commandments and his statutes according to the law of Moses.” There is evidence elsewhere in the text for Oliver Cowdery accidentally replacing his with the:

• Alma 46:25 (the immediately crossed out in 𝓟 and replaced with his inline)
  • that part of [ 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|the > NULL 1] his seed which shall be taken unto God
• Alma 52:24 (the immediately crossed out in 𝓞 and replaced with his inline)
  • behold Moroni commanded that a part of [the > NULL 0| 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] his army which were with him should march forth into the city
• Ether 9:6 (the immediately corrected to his in 𝓞)
  • and Akish reigned in [the >% his 0|his 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] stead
• Ether 13:31 (the virtually immediately replaced by his in 𝓟)
  • and Shared wounded Coriantumr in [the > his 1|his ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] thigh

Another possible emendation is that instead of the phrase of God the phrase of the Lord could have been inserted in Alma 31:9. Either “the commandments of the Lord” or “the commandments of God” is possible, as exemplified by an instance of each phrase in the previous chapter of Alma:

• Alma 30:3
  • yea and the people did observe to keep the commandments of [the Lord 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|God > the Lord 1]
• Alma 30:7
  • for it was strictly contrary to the [commandments 0|commands 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] of God

Note that in the first example, Oliver Cowdery initially wrote “the commandments of God” in 𝓟, which suggests that he could have, on his own, chosen “the commandments of God” in Alma 31:9 rather than the alternative “the commandments of the Lord”.

Given these various possibilities for Alma 31:9, it is probably safest to adopt the corrected reading in 𝓞, “the commandments of God”; this reading will work, and it is very possible that it is the result of Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith attempting to get the text copied down correctly.