This is my analysis of the changes in the Book of Mormon text that the Church announced yesterday. I will be discussing these changes briefly in my lecture this coming Tuesday, March 5th, on the Book of Mormon editions. Actually, most of these changes appeared in the 2004 Doubleday edition, which I will be highlighting near the end of the lecture, just before I discuss the Yale edition, which most closely approximates what I believe the original dictated text to be.

As noted, most of these textual changes appeared earlier in the 2004 Doubleday edition. Any change that appears here for the first time is indicated by an exclamation mark (!).

Cases marked with a delta (Δ) means that the 2009 Yale edition differs. All the following changes in substantives are discussed in the critical text; see Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon (ATV), published by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) in six parts from 2004 through 2009.

Changes in Substantives

! comfortedest > comfortedst (2 Nephi 22:1)

discussed in ATV 2:770

the KJV has comfortedst

discussed in ATV 2:770 the KJV has comfortedst pleaded > pled (Alma 1:11)

discussed in ATV 3:1581-82

discussed in ATV 3:1581-82 Δ “becoming as Gods ” > “becoming as gods ” (Alma 12:31)

discussed in ATV 3:1871-72

1611 KJV had Gods, current KJV has gods

internal evidence from Genesis 3:5 and Genesis 3:22 argues for Gods

” > “becoming as ” (Alma 12:31) discussed in ATV 3:1871-72 1611 KJV had Gods, current KJV has gods internal evidence from Genesis 3:5 and Genesis 3:22 argues for Gods restore “and so forth” at the end of the Helaman preface

discussed in ATV 5:2877

the Yale edition uses the original etc rather than the expansive “and so forth”

discussed in ATV 5:2877 the Yale edition uses the original etc rather than the expansive “and so forth” “the peoples’ sake” > “the people’s sake” (Helaman 13:17)

discussed in ATV 5:3084

people only in the singular in the Book of Mormon

sake” > “the sake” (Helaman 13:17) discussed in ATV 5:3084 people only in the singular in the Book of Mormon put “I ordain you to be a teacher” in the parenthetical statement that begins with “or if he be a teacher” (Moroni 3:3)

discussed in ATV 6:3894

Changes in Accidentals

Make the following systematic:

“House of Israel” > “house of Israel”

olive-tree > olive tree

to-day > today

!Δ “carried away in the spirit” > “carried away in the Spirit”

Yale has spirit in this expression

Yale has spirit in this expression !Δ first-born > firstborn

Yale has first born (as well as last born)

2013 LDS edition has firstborn but last-born

Yale has first born (as well as last born) 2013 LDS edition has firstborn but last-born ! teil-tree > teil tree

three score > threescore

! fir-trees > fir trees

Δ “Son of righteousness” > “Son of Righteousness”

Yale has “Sun of righteousness”, as does the KJV

Yale has “Sun of righteousness”, as does the KJV archaic past-tense spelling plead > pled

plural carcases > carcasses

Make the following minor changes in punctuation:

add a comma after pray in 2 Nephi 32:8

delete the comma after do in Alma 24:11

delete the comma after desires in Alma 29:4

replace the semicolon with a colon after men in Alma 56:13

All canonical prefaces are now set in roman type: