Helaman 16:11 Textual Variants

The original manuscript is not extant for Helaman 16:11. The 1830 edition has these and the printer’s manuscript has thus. Sentences in the preceding verses begin with and thus:

• Helaman 16:8–10
  • and behold he was never heard of more among the Nephites and thus were the affairs of the people and thus ended the eighty and sixth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi and thus ended also the eighty and seventh year of the reign of the judges and the more part of the people remaining in their pride and wickedness and the lesser part walking more circumspectly before God

In verse 11, therefore, the thus of 𝓟 is consistent with those preceding occurrences, but they could also be the source for changing an original these in 𝓞 to thus in 𝓟.

Elsewhere in the text there are a number of parallel occurrences involving thus with an existential use of the main verb be followed by a noun phrase, including the following examples involving were:

• Alma 58:5
  • but behold this did not profit us but little for the Lamanites were also receiving great strength from day to day and also many provisions and thus were our circumstances at this period of time
• 3 Nephi 7:13
  • and thus ended the thirtieth year and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi
• 4 Nephi 1:40
  • and it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away and thus were the affairs of the people

The example from 3 Nephi 7:13 is especially helpful since it repeats the thus in nearly the same way as the text does in 𝓟 for Helaman 16:10–11 (“and thus ended also the eighty and seventh year … and thus were the conditions also in the eighty and eighth year”).

Elsewhere in the text, whenever we get a sentence-initial phrase of the form “these were the X’s” or “these are the X’s”, the reference is to a specific listing of X’s that follows or precedes:

• Mosiah 27:34 (list precedes)
  • and four of them were the sons of Mosiah and their names were Ammon and Aaron and Omner and Himni these were the names of the sons of Mosiah
• Alma 2:22 (list precedes)
  • now those which he had sent out to watch the camp of the Amlicites were called Zeram and Amnor and Manti and Limher these were they which went out with their men to watch the camp of the Amlicites
• Alma 3:14–17 (list precedes)
  • and I will set a mark upon them …
    and again I will set a mark upon him that mingleth his seed with thy brethren … and again I will set a mark upon him that fighteth against thee and thy seed … he that departeth from thee shall no more be called thy seed and I will bless thee etc. and whomsoever shall be called thy seed henceforth and forever and these were the promises of the Lord unto Nephi and to his seed
• Alma 11:4–6 (list follows)
  • now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold and of their silver according to their value ... now the reckoning is thus :
    a senine of gold / a seon of gold / a shum of gold / and a limnah of gold a senum of silver / an amnor of silver / an ezrum of silver / and an onti of silver
• Alma 17:5 (list follows)
• now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings : for they had many afflictions they did suffer much both in body and in mind such as hunger thirst and fatigue and also much labor in the spirit
• Alma 17:6–9 (list follows)
  • now these were their journeyings :
    having taken leave of their father Mosiah in the first year of the reign of the judges having refused the kingdom which their father was desirous to confer upon them and also this was the minds of the people nevertheless they departed out of the land of Zarahemla … and thus they departed into the wilderness … and it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness
• Alma 17:29–30 (list precedes)
  • now when Ammon saw this / his heart was swollen within him with joy for said he : I will shew forth my power unto these my fellow servants
    —or the power which is in me— in restoring these flocks unto the king that I may win the hearts of these my fellow servants that I may lead them to believe in my words now these were the thoughts of Ammon when he saw the affliction of those which he termed to be his brethren
• Alma 23:8–13 (list follows and is then referred to twice afterwards)
  • now these are they which were converted unto the Lord :
    the people of the Lamanites which were in the land of Ishmael and also of the people of the Lamanites which were in the land of Middoni and also of the people of the Lamanites which were in the city of Nephi and also of the people of the Lamanites which were in the land of Shilom and which were in the land of Shemlon and in the city of Lemuel and in the city of Shimnilom and these are the names of the cities of the Lamanites which were converted unto the Lord and these are they that laid down the weapons of their rebellion
• Alma 31:6–7 (list precedes)
  • therefore he took Ammon and Aaron and Omner and Himni he did leave in the church in Zarahemla but the former three he took with him and also Amulek and Zeezrom which were at Melek and he also took two of his sons now the eldest of his sons he took not with him and his name was Helaman but the names of those which he took with him were Shiblon and Corianton and these are the names of those which went with him among the Zoramites
• Alma 56:13–15 (list follows and is then referred to afterwards)
  • and now these are the cities which the Lamanites have obtained possession of by the shedding the blood of so many of our valiant men : the land of Manti or the city of Manti and the city of Zeezrom and the city of Cumeni and the city of Antiparah and these are the cities which they possessed when I arrived at the city of Judea
• Helaman 1:3–4 (list follows and is then referred to twice afterwards)
  • now these are their names which did contend for the judgment seat which did also cause the people to contend : Parhoron Paanchi and Pacumeni now these are not all the sons of Parhoron—for he had many— but these are they which did contend for the judgment seat
• 3 Nephi 19:4 (list precedes)
  • and it came to pass that on the morrow when the multitude was gathered together behold Nephi and his brother whom he had raised from the dead whose name was Timothy and also his son whose name was Jonas and also Mathoni and Mathonihah his brother and Kumen and Kumenonhi and Jeremiah and Shemnon and Jonas and Zedekiah and Isaiah now these were the names of the disciples whom Jesus had chosen

I exclude from the above list 23 instances of “these are/were the words”; although technically no list precedes or follows this phraseology, each of these is always followed by a direct quotation of the words. There are two other examples of these are in the current text (in Mormon 7:1 and Ether 2:15); these two passages refer to words and thoughts, yet each originally read this is and does not technically involve a list; for discussion, see under those passages.

Elsewhere in the text, there is only one case where there has been some mix-up between these and thus in the transmission of the text. In 1 Nephi 8:34, the original manuscript read thus, but Oliver Cowdery accidentally copied this word as these into the printer’s manuscript:

• 1 Nephi 8:34
  • [thus 0|these 1|These ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] [𝓢③ is >+ 𝓢① are 0|are 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] the words of my father

As discussed under that passage, the phrase thus is refers to Lehi’s actual words in the previous verse; again there is no list per se. Instead, with the phrase “these are the words”, we would expect a following direct quotation. For some examples of direct quotations being introduced by “these are the words”, see under 3 Nephi 3:1–2.

It should be noted that there are many mix-ups in the history of the text between the visually similar this (the singular form of these) and thus. Yet almost all of these mix-ups (29 out of 31 cases) are the result of a momentary scribal slip in the manuscripts. There is one case in the manuscripts of thus being permanently replaced with this, namely, in 𝓟 by Oliver Cowdery (see under Alma 24:18); similarly, there is one case in the printed editions of this being replaced with thus, namely, in the 1830 edition by the compositor (see under Ether 1:43). For one accepted case of conjecture, see under Alma 11:21; there thus appears to have been accidentally replaced by this when Oliver Cowdery copied from 𝓞 into 𝓟.

In accord with usage elsewhere in the text, the critical text will accept the reading in 𝓟 for Helaman 16:11 as the original reading (and the probable reading in 𝓞): “and thus were the conditions also in the eighty and eighth year”. The 1830 compositor, setting his text from 𝓞, seems to have misread the original thus as these.