3 Nephi 7:7 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and they did cause a great contention in the land insomuch that the more righteous part of the people although they [were >js had 1|were A|had BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] nearly all become wicked yea there were but few righteous men among them

As discussed under 2 Nephi 22:2, the original Book of Mormon text had a few cases where the perfect auxiliary for the verb become was the archaic be rather than the modern have. Here in 3 Nephi 7:7, in his editing for the 1837 edition, Joseph Smith changed the perfect were to had. The critical text will restore the original were, giving “although they were nearly all become wicked”. For examples of this usage in the King James Bible, see under Helaman 13:36.

Summary: Restore the original were in 3 Nephi 7:7, an example of archaic English where the perfect auxiliary for the verb become was be rather than have.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 5

References