Alma 46:34 Textual Variants

The original manuscript has the infinitive phrase to do at the end of a line. In copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟, Oliver Cowdery skipped this small phrase. The resulting reading does seem as if some verbal element is missing (“he had power according to his will with the armies of the Nephites”). Elsewhere in the text we have quite a few examples of “have power” followed by to do:

• 2 Nephi 1:10 having power given them to do all things by faith
• Jacob 4:7 we have power to do these things
• Mosiah 23:39 he should have no power to do anything contrary to the will of the king of the Lamanites
• Alma 5:3 having power and authority from God to do these things
• Alma 7:8 the Lord God hath power to do all things
• Alma 19:4 thou hast power to do many mighty works in his name
• Moroni 7:33 ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me

Thus the original reading in Alma 46:34 (“he had power to do according to his will”) is what we expect, not the strange “he had power according to his will”.