Helaman 8:27 Textual Variants

Here the 1841 British edition omitted the adverb in, probably unintentionally, although the use of in in “go ye in unto the judgment seat” is unexpected in English. Yet here the term judgment seat refers more to the room where the judgment seat was. In the next chapter, we find evidence for this interpretation. The first instance there uses the same phraseology as here in Helaman 8:27; the two subsequent ones specifically refer to “the place of the judgment seat”:

• Helaman 9:3
  • they ran in their might and came in unto the judgment seat
• Helaman 9:7
  • and behold the people did gather themselves together unto the place of the judgment seat
• Helaman 9:14
  • we ran and came to the place of the judgment seat

In Helaman 8:27, the 1849 LDS edition followed the shorter reading without the in, as did the first printing of the 1852 LDS edition. The second 1852 printing restored the in to the LDS text, apparently by reference to the 1840 edition.

Elsewhere there are other instances in the text where in is used with unto in this way, “to go or to come in unto ”:

• 1 Nephi 3:11
  • and we cast lots which of us should go in unto the house of Laban and it came to pass that the lot fell upon Laman and Laman went in unto the house of Laban
• Alma 14:18
  • and they came in unto the prison to see them
• Alma 14:23
  • the chief judge over the land of Ammonihah and many of their teachers and their lawyers went in unto the prison where Alma and Amulek was bound with cords
• Alma 15:5
  • and they went in unto the house unto Zeezrom

The King James Bible also has examples of this usage in reference to entering the tabernacle in the wilderness:

• Exodus 28:29
  • and Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place
    for a memorial before the LORD continually
• Exodus 28:35
  • and it shall be upon Aaron to minister and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD
• Exodus 28:43
  • and they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place that they bear not iniquity and die

There is also a more general reference to “coming in unto a house”:

• Exodus 12:23
  • the LORD will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you ”.