Changes in the Book of Mormon
Part Three, Grammatical and Minor Changes
Of the more than 1,000 changes made in the Book of Mormon in the 1837 (by Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdrey), many were grammatical. In Third Nephi, an example is
“Our Father which art . . .” being revised to “Our Father who art . . .”
Many other changes have been in capitalization and punctuation. The following is the
14th verse of the 10th chapter of Helaman (a verse chosen at random):
1830:
therefore Nephi did declare unto them the word of the Lord, saying: Except ye repent,
thus saith the Lord: Ye shall be smitten even unto destruction..
1981 (151 years later) (with verse number):
14 Therefore Nephi did declare unto them the word of the Lord, saying: Except ye repent,
thus saith the Lord, ye shall be smitten even unto destruction.
The capitalization of “Therefore” seems to be from the addition of the verse number.
The next change in this verse is the substitution of a comma for the second colon. The
de-capitalization of “ye” is simply because there is no longer a preceding colon. The
double period after “destruction” appears to have been a printer’s error, perhaps.
From Robert J. Matthews, dean of Religious Education, Brigham Young University,
in “Why have changes been made in the printed editions of the Book of Mormon?”
"The Prophet Joseph Smith was well aware of this problem. During his lifetime, three
editions of the Book of Mormon were printed. Each time, he amended the text in a few
places to more correctly convey the intended meaning of his translation. Other changes
in these and successive editions were made to correct typographical errors, improper
spelling, and inaccurate or missing punctuation and to improve grammar and sentence
structure to eliminate ambiguity. None of these changes, individually or collectively, alter
the message of the Book of Mormon.”
Contrary to what some critics appear to be implying, the changes in the Book of
Mormon, during almost two centuries, have been mostly simple, easy to understand,
non-doctrinal corrections, much of which involve grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
None of the changes are to cover up a non-Divine origin of the Book of Mormon.
This site is neither created by nor sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Random Sampling of Differences Between the
1830 and Recent Edition of the Book of Mormon
1830 version:
And it came to pass in the eighth year of the reign of the Judges,
that the people of the church began to wax proud, because of their
exceeding riches, and their fine silks, and their fine twined linen, and
because of their many flocks and herds, and their gold, and their
silver, and all manner of precious things, which they had obtained by
their industry; and in all these things were they lifted up in the pride
of their eyes, for they began to wear very costly apparel.
1981 version of that passage (Alma 4:6):
And it came to pass in the eighth year of the reign of the judges,
that the people of the church began to wax proud, because of their
exceeding riches, and their fine silks, and their fine-twined linen, and
because of their many flocks and herds, and their gold and their
silver, and all manner of precious things, which they had obtained by
their industry; and in all these things were they lifted up in the pride
of their eyes, for they began to wear very costly apparel.
The above text was chosen at random. What is the difference? In
the modern version, the word “judges” is not capitalized, and the
words “fine-twined” are connected by a hyphen. In addition, there
is no comma after “gold.”
So after 151 years, all the changes in the English Book of Mormon,
for this verse, amount to one capitalization change, one addition of
a hyphen, and one subtraction of a comma.
The Baptism of Little Children - Is it necessary? (Home Page)
Changes in the Book of Mormon - Introduction
Changes, Part Two