Ether 2:10 Textual Variants

Here the earliest text has a singular subject and verb, but the subject complement is in the plural (“it is the everlasting decrees of God”). Joseph Smith removed the disagreement in number by changing the plural decrees to the singular decree. One could argue that the plural decrees here is an error due to the use of decrees in the preceding verse:

• Ether 2:9
  • and now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land

There is also another instance of the plural later in the larger passage:

• Ether 2:11
  • and this cometh unto you O ye Gentiles that ye may know the decrees of God that ye may repent

Elsewhere the text generally uses the plural when referring to the decrees of God, but there is one instance of the singular (marked below with an asterisk):

• * Alma 29:4
  • I had not ought to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God
• Alma 29:4
  • yea I know that he allotteth unto man yea decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable
• Alma 41:8
  • now the decrees of God are unalterable

Ultimately, the question here in Ether 2:10 is whether the original text permits number disagreement in expressions like “it is the everlasting decree(s) of God”. Given the general tendency that allows for number disagreement in the original text, it is not surprising that there is at least one other clear example in the earliest text of the phraseology “it is”:

• Alma 30:16
  • ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins but behold it is the [e ffects 01A|e ffect BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] of a frenzied mind

This example shows that the plural decrees is possible in Ether 2:10 since the phraseology in Alma 30:16 (“it is the effects of a frenzied mind”) directly parallels the noun phrase form here in Ether 2:10 (“it is the everlasting decrees of God”). Also note that in the larger passage here in Ether 2, the use of the plural decrees at the beginning of verse 9 (the second section in the following citation) seems to require the plural at the end of verse 10 (the third section) as a kind of recapitulation:

• Ether 2:8–11
  • and he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared that whoso should possess this land of promise from that time henceforth and forever should serve him the true and only God or they should be swept off when the fullness of his wrath should come upon them and now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land that it is a land of promise and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them and the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity for behold this is a land which is choice above all other lands wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off for it is the everlasting decrees of God and it is not until the fullness of iniquity among the children of the land that they are swept off and this cometh unto you O ye Gentiles that ye may know the decrees of God that ye may repent and not continue in your iniquities until the fullness be come that ye may not bring down the fullness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land hath hitherto done

Semantically, there is only one decree in this long passage, namely, “serve God or be swept off” (explicitly occurring three times, as listed above, and implied a fourth time at the end). The text nonetheless refers to this decree in the plural, not necessarily because there is more than one decree but possibly because it has been decreed more than once (to the Jaredites, to the Nephites, and now to the Gentiles). The critical text will restore the plural decrees in “for it is the everlasting decrees of God” in verse 10 since it appears to be intended.