The Phrasing of Omni 1:17

As I read in the book of Omni today I was struck by the odd phrasing of verse 17.  Speaking of the people of Zarahemla at the time that Mosiah and his people found them, it reads, “They had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.”  It seems like it should read, “…and neither Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.”  I looked at the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which is now available online, and sure enough it looks like something else may have been originally there.  There is a word that has a black mark on it between the word could and understand.  The word appears to be not, and it looks like it is crossed out (though it could be an accidental splotch).  I of course don’t know why the word is crossed out, but my guess that the original manuscript (from which the printer’s manuscript was copied) had the verse this way: “… and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could not understand them.”  That’s perhaps still a bit awkward compared to how we would phrase it today, but it seems more correct than the current text. 

               This commentary of course is not a criticism of the Book of Mormon, but rather an acknowledgment that men were involved in the process of bringing it forth and we shouldn’t except absolute perfection in all of the minute detail.  It reminds me of Moroni’s plea to us in his own writing, “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written” (Mormon 9:31).  He also invited us to see past any perceived imperfections in the book in the Title Page, “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.”  That there may be occasional minor grammatical errors or oddities in the text does not change the sacred nature of it.  Nephi wrote to us a similar plea not to get caught up in potential mistakes in the writing, “Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred.  And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself” (1 Nephi 19:6). 

The real important message of Omni 1:17 is that without sacred records the Mulekites degenerated into a people that had wars, a corrupt language, and which denied the existence of God.  Surely that macro view of the people as a whole applies to our individual lives as well—consistent study and application of the scriptures will provide internal peace and a firm faith in the Lord.  And we desperately need that kind of spiritual strength that come from the scriptures in our secular society today.