Exo 20:3 reads:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Mosiah 12:35, wherein Abinadi is reciting the Decalogue, reads:
Thou shalt have no other God before me.
Commenting on this difference, Shon D. Hopkin wrote:
In this textual variant, the Book of Mormon witness gives a singular in the command not to worship any other “God” instead of commanding to not worship other “gods,” as in the Hebrew of the Bible and of the Dead Sea Scrolls. That being said, the Hebrew “gods” is elōhîm, and that word is typically translated in the singular when referring to God (rather than to false gods) throughout the Bible. Thus, while not a normal translation, it is possible to translate this word in the singular. Additionally, Exodus 34:14 repeats the same commandment but provides the singular in the Hebrew (“thou shalt worship no other god”), ‘el. First Corinthians 8:4, “there is none other God but one” also provides the singular “god” in Greek, theos (with “God” capitalized in the King James Version). The existence of the command with “god” in the singular in other biblical witnesses demonstrates that it was considered appropriate, even in the context of polytheistic beliefs, to give this commandment in the singular.
That reasoning opens the possibility of the existence of a textual variant on the brass plates in this location, creating a match with Exodus 34:14. As mentioned, the capitalization of “God” in 1 Corinthians 8:4 matches the way that ‘elōhîm is translated in most other locations in the Old Testament King James Version, although that translation always refers to the true God of the Israelites. Joseph Smith almost certainly would not have been familiar with the Hebrew technicalities of ‘elōhîm at this early stage of his life, but he could have been familiar with Exodus 34:14 (lowercase) and 1 Corinthians 8:4 (uppercase) renderings of the same passage in the English translation.
Theologically, a number of possibilities present themselves for the change in the discourse of Abinadi, as the change could have been introduced by Abinadi, Alma1, or Mormon or in modernity as the English translation was being produced. Within the text of the Book of Mormon, there is some evidence of idolatry and the worship of a multitude of deities. (See, for example, Alma2’s condemnation of idolatry among the Zoramites in Alma 31:1.) For the most part, however, the Book of Mormon presents a situation in which apostate beliefs focus more on a rejection of the Messiah as God who would descend among the children of men to suffer, die, and be resurrected. Because Abinadi is emphasizing this very point, the shift in the wording of the commandment could indicate that a belief in God that does not include a belief in the Messiah as God who would atone for sins is putting a false God before the true God. In that context, the singular translation of ‘elōhîm as “God” actually fits the context of Abinadi’s discourse. (Shon D. Hopkin, “Isaiah 52-53 and Mosiah 13-14: A Textual Comparison” in Shon D. Hopkin, ed. Abinadi: He Came Among Them in Disguise [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, 2018], 139-66, here, pp. 141-42)
