3 Nephi 1:12 Textual Variants

The printer’s manuscript has “all that day”, whereas the 1830 edition has “all the day”. The 1908 RLDS edition restored the reading of the printer’s manuscript, as did the 1981 LDS edition. Both of these corrections were made under the assumption that here the 1830 edition descends from 𝓟 (when in fact it was copied from 𝓞).

The phrase “all that day” is supported by usage elsewhere. In the current text, we get 12 occurrences of “all the day”, but in each instance this phrase is followed by long (“all the day long”). When there is no long, we get occurrences of only “all that day”:

• Alma 2:19 the Nephites did pursue the Amlicites all that day
• Alma 56:40 and thus we did flee all that day into the wilderness
• Ether 15:15 and they fought all that day and conquered not
• Ether 15:20 and it came to pass that they fought all that day
• Ether 15:24 and they contended in their mights with their swords and with their shields all that day

It thus appears that in 3 Nephi 1:12 the 1830 reading, “all the day”, was an error.

There are two examples in his copywork where Oliver Cowdery initially wrote that instead of the correct the, and in both those cases Oliver caught his error:

• 1 Nephi 1:4 (error in 𝓟 virtually immediately corrected)
  • and in that same year there came many prophets prophesying unto the people that they must repent or [that > the 1|the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] great city Jerusalem must be destroyed
• Alma 52:26 (error in 𝓞 virtually immediately corrected) and thus Moroni had obtained a possession of [that > the 0|the 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] city Mulek

On the other hand, there are two instances where the 1830 typesetter replaced that with the, probably accidentally:

• Mosiah 9:7
  • and he also commanded that his people should depart out of [that 1PS|the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT] land
• Alma 57:29
  • now Gid was the chief captain over the band which was appointed to guard them down to [that land 0|the land of Zarahemla > that land 1| the land ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]

It should be noted that all of these errors, both Oliver’s and the 1830 typesetter’s, deal with geography (city, land) rather than with time (day). In any event, the error here in 3 Nephi 1:12 could have occurred in either 𝓟 or the 1830 edition. The critical text will therefore follow the systematic usage found elsewhere in the text, “all that day” (in distinction to “all the day long”).