3 Nephi 3:26 Textual Variants

Here the 1849 LDS edition replaced the subordinate conjunction that with the coordinating conjunction and. Both the 1830 edition and the printer’s manuscript have the that, which means that the original manuscript undoubtedly did too.

The earliest text here in 3 Nephi 3:26 implies that “Gidgiddoni did cause … that they should be strong with armor and with shields and with bucklers”. In other words, there is a second that- clause asyndetically connected to the first that-clause, which means that Gidgiddoni ordered the Nephites to protect themselves (1) by making weapons of war and (2) by making themselves strong with various kinds of protective armor.

Modern speakers of English expect and that in this passage. In fact, it is possible that Joseph Smith dictated and that but that while taking down Joseph’s dictation Oliver Cowdery accidentally dropped the and. There are a number of examples in the Book of Mormon text where the verb cause is followed by that-clauses conjoined by means of a coordinating conjunction:

• 2 Nephi 5:17
  • and it came to pass that I Nephi did cause my people that they should be industrious and that they should labor with their hands
• Alma 22:26
  • he caused that Aaron and his brethren should stand forth in the midst of the multitude and that they should preach the word unto them
• Alma 58:16
  • behold I caused that Gid with a small number of men should secrete himself in the wilderness and also that Teomner should with a small number of men secrete himself also in the wilderness
• Alma 58:26
  • I caused that my men should not sleep but that they should march forward by another way towards the land of Manti
• Ether 9:33
  • and it came to pass that the Lord did cause the serpents that they should pursue them no more but that they should hedge up the way

However, in the original text it is also possible to have conjoined that-clauses without a connector. In the following case, later editing replaced the second that with an and (just like here in 3 Nephi 3:26):

• 1 Nephi 15:34 (second that emended to and by Oliver Cowdery in 𝓞)
  • but behold I say unto you that the kingdom of God is not filthy [𝓢① that >+ 𝓢② & 0|& 1|and ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God

Thus the earliest textual sources show that conjoined that-clauses without a conjunction can occur. The critical text will therefore restore the original reading in 3 Nephi 3:26 without an and before the second that-clause.