Here the printer’s manuscript reads “upon the face of the land” while the 1830 edition reads “upon the face of this land”. Both seem possible as readings for the original manuscript. Elsewhere the text prefers “the face of the land” over “the face of this land”, but both definitely exist. For specific variants, we get the following statistics for the earliest text (excluding this case in Helaman 14:20):
| the | this | |
| “the face of land” | 39 | 7 |
| “all the face of land” | 24 | 3 |
| “the whole face of land” | 6 | 1 |
| “the face of all land” | 2 | 0 |
| “the face of whole land” | 1 | 0 |
| total | 72 | 11 |
In Helaman 14:20, Samuel the Lamanite is referring to the lack of daylight in their part of the world at the time of Christ’s birth. Later in verse 28, he refers to the signs and wonders (namely, destructions) that will be observed in that part of the world at the time of Christ’s death; and here Samuel uses this land, not the land:
In the early transmission of the text (in the manuscripts and in the 1830 edition), we find a considerable number of cases where the scribes, both Oliver Cowdery and scribe 2 of 𝓟, mixed up this and the. I first list the cases where Oliver is clearly responsible for the mix-up, of which several involve the word land (each of those involving land is marked with an asterisk):
There are two other cases where Oliver Cowdery may have mixed up this and the. The first is in 2 Nephi 10:23, where 𝓟 reads “to choose this way of everlasting death”. In that passage, the 1830 compositor emended this way to the way in order to make the reading agree with the parallel “or the way of eternal life” that follows. In that case, Oliver appears to have replaced an original the way with this way, either when he took down Joseph Smith’s dictation or when he copied from 𝓞 into 𝓟 (see the discussion under 2 Nephi 10:23). The second case is in Alma 27:10, where Oliver may have replaced an original this land with the land (see the discussion under Alma 27:10–12).
The unknown scribe 2 of 𝓟 is responsible for the following clear cases where this and the
were mixed up:
John Gilbert, the 1830 compositor, also mixed up this and the, but there is only one clear example (once more the asterisk means that the error involves the word land):
Although this example involves land, the direction of the mix-up is the opposite of what we need here in Helaman 14:20. In Mosiah 1:10, the 1830 compositor replaced this land with the land. What is lacking is any evidence that he tended to replace the land with this land. (As mentioned above, there is one case, in 2 Nephi 10:23, where the 1830 compositor changed this way to the way, probably consciously.)
The number of scribal mix-ups is large, but most of these involve momentary errors in the manuscripts. In the typeset text, as we might suspect, there is little if any evidence for momentary mis-settings involving this and the. If we compare the clear 1830 changes (made by John Gilbert) with those manuscript cases where the mix-up was not corrected by the original scribe (either Oliver Cowdery or scribe 2 of 𝓟), we get the following statistics:
| Oliver Cowdery | 2 times | 2 Nephi 1:8, Alma 56:17 |
| scribe 2 of 𝓟 | 1 time | Mormon 7:8 |
| John Gilbert | 1 time | Mosiah 1:10 |
There are a number of other cases of variation involving the and this where it is not clear whether the manuscript scribe or the 1830 compositor made the error. All these instances are found in that portion of the text, from Helaman 13 through Mormon 9, where the 1830 edition is a firsthand copy of 𝓞:
In the first case, it is possible that Oliver Cowdery miswrote an original the as this in 𝓞; for discussion of that case, see below under Helaman 14:21. For the other cases, see the discussion under each passage.
Here in Helaman 14:20, the critical text will accept the 1830 reading, “upon the face of this land”, as the original one for the following two reasons: (1) the use of this is supported by the nearby reading in Helaman 14:28 (“upon all the face of this land”); and (2) Oliver Cowdery tended to replace this land with the land in his manuscript work, with three clear cases: 2 Nephi 1:8, Helaman 3:12, and 3 Nephi 3:24. On the other hand, there are no cases, even potential ones, where the 1830 compositor replaced the land with this land (excluding the possibility here in Helaman 14:20).
Summary: Maintain in Helaman 14:20 the 1830 reading “upon the face of this land”; the use of this rather than the (the reading in 𝓟) is supported by the use of this in Helaman 14:28 (“upon all the face of this land”); there is also considerable evidence that Oliver Cowdery tended to accidentally write the land in place of this land.