3 Nephi 1:27 Textual Variants

The original manuscript is not extant here, and the spacing between extant fragments is so large (over seven lines of manuscript text) that it is difficult to determine whether the text read did dwell (the reading in the printer’s manuscript) or dwelt (the reading in the 1830 edition). Elsewhere the text has five examples of did dwell:

• Helaman 3:7 therefore they did build houses of cement in the which they did dwell
• Helaman 3:9 and the people which were in the land northward did dwell in tents and in houses of cement
• Nephi 3:25 and they did dwell in one land and in one body
• Nephi 1:15 because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people
• Ether 11:9 and he did dwell in captivity all his days

As explained under 1 Nephi 2:5, the Book of Mormon allows usage like did dwell; also see the general discussion under do auxiliary in volume 3. However, the simple past-tense form, dwelt, is considerably more frequent than did dwell, occurring 22 times elsewhere in the original text. There are six clear examples in the text where Oliver Cowdery added (or started to add) the auxiliary do in his copywork; in two cases, the change was left permanently in the text (each of these permanent changes is marked below with an asterisk):

• *1 Nephi 2:16 (changed to did cry when copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟)
  • wherefore I [cried 0|did cry 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] unto the Lord and behold he did visit me and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father
• *1 Nephi 18:11 (changed to did suffer when copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟)
  • Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords and they did treat me with much harshness nevertheless the Lord [suffered 0|did suffer 1ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] it that he might shew forth his power
• Alma 53:13 (Oliver Cowdery started to write did bear in 𝓟)
  • when they saw the danger and the many afflictions and tribulations which the Nephites [did > bore 1|bore ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] for them they were moved with compassion
• Helaman 9:39 (Oliver Cowdery initially wrote did believe in 𝓟)
  • and there were some of the Nephites which [did believe >+ believed 1|believed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] on the words of Nephi and there were some also which believed because of the testimony of the five
• 3 Nephi 11:15 (Oliver Cowdery started to write did thrust in 𝓟)
  • and it came to pass that the multitude went forth and [did > thrust 1|thrust ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] their hands into his side and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet and this they did do / going forth one by one until they had all gone forth and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands and did know of a surety and did bear record that it was he
• 3 Nephi 17:10 (Oliver Cowdery initially wrote did bow down in 𝓟)
  • and they which were whole [did > NULL 1| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] bow down at his feet and did worship him

For four of the six cases, there are other verbs in the passage that take the do auxiliary (as noted above in bold); this nearby use of the do could have prompted Oliver to add the do auxiliary in those cases. Note in particular that the following relative clause here in 3 Nephi 1:27 also has the do auxiliary (“which did infest the land”).

Besides these six cases, there is another one in this part of the text where it appears that Oliver Cowdery once more added the do auxiliary:

3 Nephi 19:12

and he [did baptize 1|baptized ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] all they whom Jesus had chosen

For further discussion, see under that passage.

In contrast to Oliver Cowdery’s tendency to add the do auxiliary, there are no established examples where the 1830 typesetter deleted the do auxiliary (there is one case where he added the do, in 1 Nephi 17:1). Thus the most probable source for the variation in 3 Nephi 1:27 is the result of Oliver accidentally changing dwelt to did dwell when he copied the text from 𝓞 into 𝓟. The critical text will maintain the simple past-tense form dwelt, the 1830 reading for this passage.

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