Isaiah 50:5 (King James Bible) the Lord GOD hath opened mine ear
Here in 2 Nephi 7:5, as he copied from 𝓞 into 𝓟, Oliver Cowdery misread opened as appointed, which creates a novel but not impossible reading. The evidence for the reading of the original manuscript is a large fragment in the Wilford Wood collection. The corresponding King James text has, of course, opened. Oliver must have been quite tired while copying this portion of the text in 2 Nephi 7 since he made several other accidental errors while copying this part of the original manuscript.
Joseph Smith restored the reading opened in the 1840 edition, by reference either to the King James Bible or to the original manuscript itself (which he used to restore a few other original readings in the 1840 edition). The photographs of the Wilford Wood fragments (taken in 1991) confirm that here in 2 Nephi 7:5 (and for quite a few other places in 2 Nephi 7), the original Book of Mormon text read like the King James text.
Incidentally, in Joseph Smith’s “New Translation” of the King James Bible, known as the Joseph Smith Translation (JST), the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon was used to revise the King James text. As a result, Joseph Smith’s revisions include all these errors in 2 Nephi 7:2–5 that Oliver Cowdery accidentally introduced into the text as he copied from 𝓞 into 𝓟:
| original manuscript | joseph smith translation |
| King James Bible | 1830 edition |
|
I make the rivers a wilderness he wakeneth morning by morning he wakeneth mine ear God hath opened mine ear |
I make their rivers a wilderness he waketh morning by morning he waketh mine ear God hath appointed mine ear(s) |
Summary: Maintain opened in 2 Nephi 7:5, the reading of the original manuscript as well as the King James Bible.