Mormon 9:30 Textual Variants

The printer’s manuscript has the verb have, but the 1830 edition has hear. These two words are visually similar. The original manuscript could have read with either have or hear. Based on the reading in the printer’s manuscript, the 1908 RLDS edition and the 1981 LDS edition adopted the reading with have, under the assumption that the 1830 reading with hear was a misreading of 𝓟. However, we now know that the 1830 edition derives directly from 𝓞 for this part of the text. Unfortunately, 𝓞 is not extant for any of Mormon. Nor are there any other examples of mix-ups between have and hear in the text. Yet it is obvious that there was a mix-up here in Mormon 9:30: either have was replaced by hear (in the 1830 edition) or hear was replaced by have (in 𝓟). The question, then, is an internal one: Which reading is the more probable as the original reading (and presumably the reading in 𝓞)?

Consider first the evidence for hear, the 1830 reading. We have a couple of other verses that refer to readers hearing the words written in the Book of Mormon:

• 2 Nephi 27:29 (Isaiah 29:18)
  • and in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book
• 3 Nephi 30:1
  • hearken O ye Gentiles and hear the words of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning you for behold he commandeth me that I should write saying …

These examples show that people can hear the words in the Book of Mormon, implying that they were spoken. In fact, this seems to be the case: in ancient times, silent reading was uncommon; typically, readers read the text out loud. For this point, see chapter 2 of Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading (New York: Viking, 1996), 41–53.

Nonetheless, there is a passage that parallels Mormon 9:30, and that passage refers four times to having someone’s words as scripture (rather than hearing them):

• 2 Nephi 29:13
  • and it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews

From a semantic point of view, the use of the verb have actually works better in Mormon 9:30 since one may have the words of the Book of Mormon but refuse to listen to the message. Thus having Moroni’s words is wholly appropriate here in Mormon 9:30. Although the evidence is not overwhelming in this instance, the critical text will accept the reading in 𝓟 (“ye shall have my words”) since it is more directly supported by usage elsewhere in the text.