4 Nephi 1:6 Textual Variants

Here the typesetter for the 1841 British edition omitted the definite article the before “forty and first”. In this case, the LDS text has maintained the shorter reading up through the present edition. Note that other numbers in this passage have the the before the number: “the thirty and eighth year … the thirty and ninth … the forty and second”. We get the same use of the later on in this verse as well as in verse 14:

• 4 Nephi 1:6
  • yea even until forty and nine years had passed away and also the fifty and first and the fifty and second yea and even until fifty and nine years had passed away
• 4 Nephi 1:14
  • and it came to pass that the seventy and first year passed away and also the seventy and second year yea and in fine until the seventy and ninth year had passed away yea even an hundred years had passed away

The critical text will restore the original the before “forty and first”. For a similar loss of the before a number (in this case, in the 1892 RLDS edition), see nearby under Mormon 3:8. It is possible that the loss of the the was influenced by the fact that the text sometimes refers to the passing of time by specifying a set number of years, in which case the the is not used (as in 4 Nephi 1:6: “yea even until forty and nine years had passed away”).