Alma 34:36 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
yea and he hath also said that the righteous [should 01A|shall BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] sit down in his kingdom to go no more out but their garments should be made white through the blood of the Lamb

The original manuscript twice uses the modal should in this verse. The 1837 edition changed the first should to shall, but this change was probably a typo rather than due to intentional editing since later the verse continues to use should (“but their garments should be made white”). A similar use of should after the verb say is found near the end of the Book of Mormon:

Both passages (at least originally) have “hath said” followed by should rather than shall, so there is textually nothing wrong with having should in a prophetic expression dealing with the future. For further discussion of the variation between shall and should, see under Jacob 7:9 as well as more generally under modal verbs in volume 3.

Summary: Restore in Alma 34:36 the original modal should, which agrees with the should in the following clause as well as with the similar construction in Mormon 5:9.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 4

References