Ether 15:4 Textual Variants

Here the 1905 LDS edition accidentally dropped the object pronoun him, but the 1920 LDS edition restored it. The text has four other instances of “desiring him that S”, where S is a finite clause:

• Alma 43:23 desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord
• Alma 47:33 desiring him that he would spare the people of the city
• Alma 52:10 desiring him that he would be faithful
• Alma 52:20 desiring him that he would come out with his armies

But there are also six cases that could have the him but do not:

• Alma 47:12 desiring that he would come down
• Alma 51:15 desiring that he should heed it
• Alma 54:1 desiring that he would exchange prisoners
• Alma 59:3 desiring that he should cause men to be gathered together
• Helaman 2:7 desiring that he would conduct him to the judgment seat
• Ether 15:18 desiring that he would not come again to battle

Since either reading is theoretically possible here in Ether 15:4, the one based on the earliest textual sources will be retained (namely, “desiring him that he would spare the people”).