3 Nephi 11:36 Textual Variants

Paul Thomas (personal communication, 5 December 2003) points out that the pronoun I is in the wrong place according to the traditional rule of grammar that places the I pronoun at the end of a conjunctive noun phrase. Of course, the order here in 3 Nephi 11:36 follows the typical trinitarian order, as elsewhere in the text, including these two in this same chapter:

• 3 Nephi 11:25
  • I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
• 3 Nephi 11:27
  • verily I say unto you that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one

Even so, the trinitarian word order is not always followed in the Book of Mormon text:

• Alma 11:44
  • and all shall be brought and be raigned before the bar of Christ the Son and God the Father and the Holy Spirit which is one eternal God to be judged according to their works

Here in 3 Nephi 11:36, the critical text will maintain the word order of all the textual sources, “for the Father and I and the Holy Ghost are one”.

David Calabro points out (personal communication) that the Book of Mormon has eight examples where the subject pronoun I comes first in a conjunctive subject, as in these examples:

• 1 Nephi 5:20 thus far I and my father had kept the commandments
• 1 Nephi 7:22 and after that I and my brethren and all the house of Ishmael had come down unto the tent of my father …
• Mosiah 9:7 and I and my people went into the land that we might possess it

The King James Bible also has many similar examples, such as these instances that parallel the preceding Book of Mormon examples:

• Genesis 37:10 shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth
• Exodus 9:27 and I and my people are wicked
• John 10:30 I and my Father are one

The order of the nouns in the King James text follows the order in the original languages (Hebrew for the Old Testament examples, Greek for the New Testament). From this perspective, the word order in 3 Nephi 11:36 is definitely unusual, yet its trinitarian order seems to be fully intended.