Helaman 7:5 Textual Variants

Here the 1830 typesetter accidentally dropped the repeated to in the infinitival conjunctive phrase “to rule and to do”. For a list of other passages where the infinitival to has been omitted in the history of the text, see under Alma 16:2. For a more general discussion, see under conjunctive repetition in volume 3.

Elsewhere the text has cases of conjunctive infinitive clauses where the infinitival to is repeated before a conjoined do:

• 3 Nephi 1:14 to fulfill all things … and to do the will both of the Father and of the Son
• 3 Nephi 6:17 to be carried about by the temptations of the devil … and to do whatsoever iniquity he desired they should
• 4 Nephi 1:34 to build up many churches and to do all manner of iniquity
• Moroni 7:12 and inviteth and enticeth to sin and to do that which is evil continually
• Moroni 7:31 and to fulfill and to do the work of the covenants of the Father

For the first of these, the 1837 edition omitted the repeated to, but both the LDS and RLDS texts have restored the original to:

• 3 Nephi 1:14
  • behold I come unto my own to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world and [to 1APRST| BCDEFGHIJKLMNOQ] do the will both of the Father and of the Son

And as we might expect, there are also cases where the infinitival to is not repeated before do:

• 2 Nephi 3:24 to work mighty wonders and do that thing which is great in the sight of God
• Mosiah 11:2 to commit sin and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord
• Helaman 12:5 to boast and do all manner of that which is iniquity
• Helaman 16:12 to be more hardened in iniquity and do more and more of that which was contrary to the commandments of God

For each of these examples without the to, the complement for the do verb has the pronoun that modified by a relative clause beginning with which. Nonetheless, Moroni 7:12 also has this structure, yet the to is repeated there (“and to do that which is evil continually”). So in each case where the infinitival to could be repeated, the critical text will follow the earliest reading; thus the repeated to will be restored here in Helaman 7:5.