Moroni 8:26 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love which [NULL > love 1|love ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] endureth by diligence unto prayer

In the printer’s manuscript, Oliver Cowdery initially wrote the relative clause as “which endureth by diligence unto prayer”. Virtually immediately Oliver supralinearly inserted love after which; the correction occurs at the end of the manuscript line, and there is no change in the level of the ink flow. This correction is undoubtedly based on the reading of the original manuscript since in theory either reading is possible. One could say that both hope and love “endureth by diligence unto prayer”. But earlier, in the previous chapter of Moroni, there is specific evidence for love enduring, namely, in Mormon’s discourse on charity (which in some phrases parallels Paul’s discourse in 1 Corinthians 13):

Thus in Moroni 8:26 the restriction to love enduring is entirely appropriate.

Summary: Accept in Moroni 8:26 Oliver Cowdery’s insertion in 𝓟 of the word love since it appears to have been virtually immediate and the resulting restriction is consistent with Mormon’s discourse earlier in Moroni 7:46–47.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 6

References