Ether 15:29 Textual Variants

Here the printer’s manuscript reads without the definite article the before “loss of blood”. The 1858 Wright edition and the 1905 LDS missionary edition supplied the the (independently, it would appear). In addition, the 1907 LDS vest-pocket edition seems to have adopted the secondary the for this phrase by reference to the 1905 edition. The original manuscript is not extant here (nor are there any nearby fragments that might provide evidence from spacing considerations).

Elsewhere in the text, we always get the before every reference to the loss of blood (five times), of which the last three refer to fainting (just like here in Ether 15:29):

• Alma 43:38
  • while on the other hand there was now and then a man fell among the Nephites by their wounds and the loss of blood
• Alma 48:13
  • and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people his rights and his country and his religion even to the loss of his blood
• Alma 57:25
  • and it came to pass that there were two hundred out of my two thousand and sixty which had fainted because of the loss of blood
• Ether 15:9
  • and he fainted with the loss of blood
• Ether 15:27
  • and they fainted with the loss of blood

The last two examples, like the one here in Ether 15:29, are from the same chapter of Ether, and they also use the preposition with, thus suggesting that the belongs in verse 29 as well. It is quite possible that the the was in the original manuscript but was lost when Oliver Cowdery copied the text from 𝓞 into 𝓟. Such a change is even more probable when we consider that in modern English we expect the expression “with loss of blood”—that is, without the the. And as Alison Coutts points out (personal communication), the same holds for the corresponding negative form, “without loss of blood”.

Oliver Cowdery frequently omitted the definite article the in copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟, usually only momentarily. But there are seven instances where he failed to catch his error in 𝓟 (and some of these are obvious errors):

• 1 Nephi 12:5
  • and behold I saw [the 0| 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] multitudes which had not fallen
• 2 Nephi 5:12
  • and also the ball or [the 0| 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] compass
• Alma 23:14
  • and the Amlicites were not converted save only one neither was any of [ 1|the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] Amulonites
• Alma 32:2 (here the the was also momentarily omitted in 𝓞)
  • they began to have success among the poorer class of [NULL > the 0| 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] people
• Alma 45:8
  • and [the 0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST| 1] Lord shall prosper thee in this land
• 3 Nephi 3:23
  • yea to the line which was betwixt the land Bountiful and [ 1|the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] land Desolation
• 3 Nephi 19:15
  • while [ 1|the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] angels were ministering unto the disciples

So it is quite possible that here in Ether 15:29 Oliver omitted the the.

On the other hand, there is considerable evidence in Early Modern English for the phrase “with loss of blood”, as in these examples (with accidentals modernized) from Literature Online:

• Jonathan Sidnam (1655)
  • though faint with loss of blood
• Samuel Holland (1656)
  • that his steed should swoon under him and lie down with loss of blood
• Thomas D’Urfey (1676)
  • they give no kingdoms won with loss of blood

Literature Online also lists examples of “with the loss of blood”, such as this one in Early Modern English (again with accidentals modernized):

• Samuel Rowlands (1607)
  • who with the loss of blood doth weakly faint

Literature Online shows that “with loss of blood” is more frequent than “with the loss of blood” (94 to 33). And in citations from the 1600s, the same preference holds (17 to 7). These statistics argue that the phrase “with loss of blood” could very well be original in Ether 15:29. Since it will work, the critical text will accept it, but with the recognition that this could be an early error for “with the loss of blood”.