In current printings of D&C 87:3, we read:
For behold, the Southern States
shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call
on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they
shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other
nations, and then war shall be poured out upon all nation.
Some of the earliest texts do not read 'then' but 'thus.'
In Revelation
Book 1, it reads "then":
. . . & then war shall be
poured out upon all nations . . .
In Revelation
Book 2, it reads “thus”:
. . . and thus war shall be poured
out upon all Nations . . .
In The
Book of the Law of the Lord, it reads "thus":
And thus war shall be poured out
upon all nations.
The reading "thus" appears in the 1851 Pearl of Great Price, Orson Pratt in the April 1854 issue of The Seer (vol 2, no. 4, p. 241) as well as in a sermon by Brigham Young from August 31, 1862 (JOD 9:367). Notwithstanding, as Revelation Book 1 reads "then," it suggests that the current printing of the Doctrine and Covenants is correct and that "thus" is not original.
B.H. Roberts, during the October 1916 General Conference,
commented on this variant:
The great calamity of the Civil war was predicted by the Prophet Joseph Smith, as is common knowledge among you twenty-nine years before it began, and in great detail the circumstances of the Rebellion, as to its ending in the death and misery of many souls; as to the Southern States being divided against the Northern States; as to the Southern States calling upon Great Britain, and Great Britain calling upon other nations, in order to "defend themselves against other nations," "and then" war shall be poured out upon all nations. It reads in the current print of the D&C, "and 'thus' war shall be poured out upon all nations." But when revising the History of the Church some years ago, we found that in the manuscript, it read "then," that is when Great Britain shall call upon other nations to defend herself against other nations "then war shall be poured out upon all nations." England for a long while, trusting in the greatness and strength of her navy, rejoiced in what her statesmen were pleased to call her policy of "splendid isolation"; that is to say freedom from entangling alliances with continental European powers. But finally, under the stress of rising circumstances, she departed from this policy of isolation, and united with other nations for self-defense, with the result that soon afterwards--that is, in a few years--came this outburst of the world's war. "And thus with the sword and by bloodshed," continues the revelation, "the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn, and with famine and plagues and earthquakes and the thunder of Heaven and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed, hath made a full end of all nations." (Conference Report, October 1916, p. 142; cf. Roberts' sermon from January 28, 1884 [JOD 25:142] where he quoted D&C 87:3 as reading "and then war . . .")
LDS historian Scott Esplin commented that B. H. Roberts
had a hand in
changing slightly the wording of the text itself. Early print versions of
D&C 87 concluded verse 3 with the phrase, “and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations” (emphasis
added). During the height of World War I, Roberts remarked in the October 1916
General Conference, “It reads in the current print of the Doctrine and Covenants
‘and “thus” war shall be poured out upon all nations.’ But when revising the History of
the Church some years ago, we found that in the manuscript, it
read ‘then,’ that is, when Great Britain shall call upon other nations to
defend herself against other nations, ‘then war shall be poured out upon all
nations,’” thereby applying the verse to the present conflict. B. H. Roberts,
in Conference Report, October 1916, 141. The Church changed the wording from
“thus” to “then” beginning with the 1921 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.
See B. H. Roberts, A
Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1948–57), 1:300–301.
“Then” is, indeed, in the manuscript version of the History of
the Church, as penned by Willard Richards in Nauvoo. However, earlier
manuscript copies preserve both options. “Then” is used in John Whitmer’s
version of the revelation, found in Revelation Book 1, but “thus” is used in
Oliver Cowdery’s later copy in the same book and in Frederick G. Williams’s
version recorded in Revelation Book 2. See note 7 and Jensen, Woodford, and
Harper, eds., Revelations
and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, 5–6, 290–91, 380–81, and 478–79. (Scott C. Esplin,
"'Have
We Not Had a Prophet Among Us?': Joseph Smith's Civil War Prophecy,"
in Civil War Saints, ed. Kenneth L. Alford
[Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2013], 59 n. 42)
On D&C 87 itself, check out the articles listed here:
