Alma 38:3–4 Textual Variants

Here the original and printer’s manuscripts have the past-tense form knew for both of these sentences in verse 4. The first knew was accidentally changed to know in the 1840 edition and, independently, in the 1841 British edition (which was set from the 1837 edition, not from the 1840 edition). We know that this change of the first knew to know was an accident in both editions because this change was not made to the second knew in either of those editions. Conscious editing, one would think, should have led to changing the second knew as well. Later editing removed the discrepancy in tense. Following the reading in 𝓟, the 1908 RLDS edition restored the original past-tense knew to the RLDS text. On the other hand, the 1920 LDS edition made the LDS text consistent by changing the second knew to know.

The use of the present-tense perfect have at the beginning of this passage (“I have had great joy in thee already”) leads the reader to expect the present-tense know. Moreover, the verb know has a stative sense, so if Alma knew earlier of Shiblon’s difficulties, then he would still know of these difficulties while speaking to Shiblon. These expectations help explain the tendency to replace knew with know in the history of the text.

The use of the past-tense knew here in verse 4 means that Alma found out during the mission to the Zoramites (as described in Alma 31–35) that Shiblon had been in bonds and had been stoned. The present-tense know, on the other hand, makes it less clear when Alma found out. At the beginning of verse 3, Alma indicates that “I have had great joy in thee already because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence and thy patience and thy long-suffering”. The use of already here supports Alma’s claim in verse 4 that he had already known, even during the Zoramite mission, of two important examples of Shiblon’s patience and long-suffering, namely, being in bonds and being stoned.