Moroni 8:21 Textual Variants

As suggested by Ross Geddes (personal communication, 28 November 2004), the plural pronouns here at the end of verse 21 refer to Mormon’s words, inferred rather than explicitly stated. Notice that earlier in the verse the they refers to people, not words (“for they are in danger of death hell and an endless torment”), but the later uses of them and they definitely do not refer to these people. A similar example of this kind of usage, where they implicitly refers to words, is found earlier in the text:

• 2 Nephi 28:1
  • And now behold my brethren I have spoken unto you according as the Spirit hath constrained me wherefore I know that they must surely come to pass

As far as Moroni 8:21 is concerned, there is internal evidence that the them in a phrase like “listen unto them” refers to words:

• Jacob 2:16 and O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands
• Mosiah 22:4 or if thou hast hitherto listened to my words in any degree
• Mosiah 22:4 even so I desire that thou wouldst listen to my words at this time
• Moroni 8:8 listen to the words of Christ

Interestingly, there is only one example in the text that refers to listening to a person, and this is in 1 Nephi 21:1, in a quotation from Isaiah 49:1: “listen O isles unto me”. The Book of Mormon language proper refers only to listening to words; thus the them in “listen unto them” here in Moroni 8:21 should refer to words, not to people.

Similarly, usage elsewhere in the text argues that here in Moroni 8:21 the they in “or they stand against you at the judgment seat of Christ” refers to words, not to people; we have examples where words (including testimony), actions (including crimes), and blood that has been shed can stand against a person in judgment or in trial:

• 2 Nephi 25:28
  • and the words which I have spoken shall stand as a testimony against you
• Mosiah 3:23–24
  • and now I have spoken the words which the Lord God hath commanded me and thus saith the Lord they shall stand as a bright testimony against this people at the judgment day
• Mosiah 17:10
  • and I will not recall my words and they shall stand as a testimony against you and if ye slay me / ye will shed innocent blood and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day
• Alma 14:11
  • and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them yea and cry mightily against them at the last day
• Alma 39:8
  • but behold ye cannot hide your crimes from God and except ye repent they will stand as a testimony against you at the last day
• Ether 5:4
  • and in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established and the testimony of three and this work —in the which shall be shewn forth the power of God and also his word of which the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost beareth record— and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day

(The noun work in the last example refers to the Book of Mormon.) But there are no passages that refer to a person “standing against someone” at the day of judgment or at trial. To be sure, we get expressions that refer to “standing against someone in battle” (ten times), as in Mormon 4:20: “and there they did stand against the Lamanites with exceeding boldness”. Thus here in Moroni 8:21 it is very likely that the they in “or they stand against you at the judgment seat of Christ” refers to words and not to people. The critical text will not attempt to emend instances of pronouns that implicitly refer to words, as in 2 Nephi 28:1 and here in Moroni 8:21.