Ether 1:38 Textual Variants

The printer’s manuscript has the word order “whither shall we go”, which implies that the original text had a direct quote after “cry unto him”. The 1830 edition shifted the placement of the modal verb shall, thus changing the text to read as an indirect quote (“whither we shall go”). If we place a colon before whither, then the original word order can be restored since the colon will imply a following direct quote. The text has other examples of direct quotes that start out with a question headed by whither (given here as they read in the original text but with their current LDS punctuation and capitalization added):

• 1 Nephi 16:23
  • And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?
• 1 Nephi 17:9 And I saith:
  • Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shewn unto me?
• Alma 20:10
  • And he also saith: Whither art thou going with this Nephite, which is one of the children of a liar?

In the Book of Mormon text, the verb cry is normally followed by a direct quote (61 times), as in the following example with its current LDS punctuation and capitalization:

• Mormon 3:2
  • Cry unto this people— Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.

But there are 9 instances in the text where the verb cry is followed by an indirect quote, as in the following nearby example (again with current LDS punctuation and capitalization):

• Ether 1:34
  • Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words.

The original use of the direct quote in Ether 1:38 undoubtedly makes Jared’s plea more vivid. Adding the appropriate punctuation and capitalization, we therefore get the following for the original text:

• Ether 1:38 (revised accidentals)
  • And if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him: Whither shall we go?