Helaman 14:21 Textual Variants

The expression “yield up the ghost” occurs nowhere else in the Book of Mormon, whereas “give up the ghost” occurs twice in the text (in fact, in the same passage) and at some distance earlier in the text:

• Jacob 7:20–21
  • and it came to pass that when he had said these words he could say no more and he gave up the ghost and when the multitude had witnessed that he spake these things as he was about to give up the ghost they were astonished exceedingly

Here in Helaman 14:21, the 1874 RLDS edition replaced yield with give, a semantic replacement that was very likely a typo and not the result of editing. The 1908 RLDS edition restored the original yield.

There is one other passage in the Book of Mormon where yield is used to refer to death:

• Mosiah 2:26
  • I am old and am about to yield up this mortal frame to its mother earth

Moreover, the expression “give up the ghost” occurs 16 times in the King James Bible, but interestingly there are also a few occurrences of “yield up the ghost” in the biblical text:

• Genesis 49:33
  • and when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost and was gathered unto his people
• Matthew 27:50
  • Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost
• Acts 5:10
  • then fell she down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost

So the unique use of “yield up the ghost” in the Book of Mormon text is supported directly by King James usage and indirectly by a similar use of the verb yield up in the Book of Mormon.