Alma 45:14 Textual Variants

The current text for Alma 45:14 has commas on both sides of all, which makes it difficult for a reader to determine whether all belongs with the preceding prepositional phrase (as “unto them all”) or with the following subordinate clause (as “all save it be a few”). The 1830 typesetter interpreted the all as belonging to the preceding them (since he placed a comma only after the all ). But beginning with the 1837 edition, commas have surrounded the all, thus making the reading here ambiguous.

Elsewhere in the text, there is one example of the prepositional phrase “unto them all” where the all belongs with them rather than with a following noun phrase, namely, in Helaman 10:17: “even until he had declared it unto them all or sent it forth among all the people”. On the other hand, elsewhere there are six examples of the expression “all save X” (where X stands for a noun phrase or a clause). Either reading is theoretically possible here in Alma 45:14, yet clearly the text is saying that all the Nephites who survive will become like the Lamanites, except for a few “disciples of the Lord”. The all therefore belongs with the following clause (“all save it be a few”), and the extra comma after the all should be removed:

• Alma 45:14 (1830 punctuation minimally revised)
  • but whosoever remaineth, and is not destroyed in that great and dreadful day, shall be numbered among the Lamanites, and shall become like unto them, all save it be a few, which shall be called the disciples of the Lord;

The same punctuation, with a comma preceding all, is found in four out of the six other cases of “all save X” (given here with the 1830 punctuation):

• Mosiah 19:18
  • and it came to pass that they met the people in the wilderness, all save the king and his priests.
• Alma 58:31
  • and our fathers, and our women, and our children, are returning to their homes, all save it be those which have been taken prisoners and carried off by the Lamanites.
• Helaman 3:23
  • there was continual peace established in the land, all save it were the secret combinations which Gaddianton the robber had established,
• Helaman 16:15
  • nevertheless, the people began to harden their hearts, all save it were the most believing part of them,

Two exceptions, each originally printed with a comma after all, read as follows (given here with the 1830 punctuation):

• Ether 6:27
  • and it came to pass that neither would the sons of Jared, even all, save it were one;
• Ether 9:12
  • and there began to be a war between the sons of Akish and Akish, which lasted for the space of many years; yea, unto the destruction of nearly all the people of the kingdom; yea, even all, save it were thirty souls,

The 1920 LDS edition omitted the comma after all in the first of these two cases but left it in the second. For the sake of consistency, the comma after the all in Ether 9:12 should also be removed. But for these two cases, we should note, the preceding even makes sure that the all belongs with the following save-clause. Similarly, the comma after all in Alma 45:14 should be removed since here too the all belongs with the save-clause.