Yes, indeed. To such an extent, Smith not only needed a lot of scribes, but a LOT of editors through the generations! (And in many ways, his scribes were the "pre-editors" who kept what he dictated from coming out even worse!)
The BIGGEST impact all of these edits have had is that they clearly help erase the obviousness of the original text that a portion of the Book of Mormon was written by an uneducated, grammar-challenged bumpkin -- in which suddenly phrases stolen word-for-word out of the King James Bible stand out in major contrast.
The obviousness of this contrast is greatly diluted by the perhaps hundreds of Book of Mormon editors of what Joseph Smith called "the most correct book on earth."
With the Bible, you have Hebrew & Greek and distinct interpretations of phrasing and even meaning on some things (though not major doctrinal issues)...with the Book of Mormon, they have no original gold-plated text -- therefore they've had no excuses for doing any editing -- especially any editing when you don't know who the editors are and why they've changed something.
So, here we have the pure majesty of the KJ Version of the prophet Isaiah's words all throughout a book in the Book of Mormon like 2 Nephi. (That's the "mountaintop" portion of 2 Nephi). The grammatical "gutter" portion of 2 Nephi is when Joseph Smith speaks forth out of supposed "poetic license":
2 Nephi 4:14: "for a more history part are written upon mine other plates" ["more history part"??]
2 Nephi 27:13: Colleen Ralson of Watchman Fellowship: First is says "none" and then it says "a few." A few is not none. Which does he mean? (Ralson, Color Me Confused, p. 20, 1988)
2 Nephi 30:18: Ralson: Here it states "no more, for a long time." This is a stupid statement. Is it no more or is it a long time?
2 Nephi 31:2: Ralson: The words "save it be a few words..." are really funny when you examine 4 Nephi 1:6, where it takes the author 57 words to say 59 years past.
2 Nephi 31:3: "he speaketh unto men according to their language." Ralson: Why then were they to write in reformed Egyptian? They probably did not understand it and surely the ones who would receive the plates would not understand it, either.
Now that you've viewed the grammatical "gutter" writing of Joseph Smith, all you have to do is stay in the same book -- 2 Nephi -- to see all the majestic writing!!! And how does that happen? Well, Smith plagiarizes 15 chapters, word-for-word, from the book of Isaiah in the Bible!!! (Chapters 1-->14 and 29). So, compare the above verses to Isaiah's KJ translation -- and you'll see that the Inspirer who inspired Isaiah is not the Inspirer who inspired the writer of 2 Nephi!!!
Smith's plagiarism:
2 Nephi 7 --> a copy of Isaiah 50
2 Nephi 8 --> a copy of Isaiah 51 [Ralson notes: "even italicized words that were added later to the King James Version for clarification, are found here"]
2 Nephi 12 --> a copy of Isaiah 2
2 Nephi 13 --> a copy of Isaiah 3
2 Nephi 14 --> a copy of Isaiah 4
2 Nephi 15 --> a copy of Isaiah 5
2 Nephi 16 --> a copy of Isaiah 6
2 Nephi 17 --> a copy of Isaiah 7
2 Nephi 18 --> a copy of Isaiah 8
2 Nephi 19 --> a copy of Isaiah 9
2 Nephi 20 --> a copy of Isaiah 10
2 Nephi 21 --> a copy of Isaiah 11
2 Nephi 22 --> a copy of Isaiah 12
2 Nephi 23 --> a copy of Isaiah 13 [and please note...that the italicized words of Isaiah 13, KJ Version during Joseph Smith's day, were not in the original Hebrew from which the KJV was translated...So if they weren't in the Hebrew, how did Nephi get them? Did he reach into the future of 1611 in the UK, and superimpose them into golden plates between 559 and 545 BC?]
2 Nephi 24 --> a copy of Isaiah 14
2 Nephi 27 --> a copy of Isaiah 29
A particularly excellent point, clearly made, and scathing in its indictment of Joseph Smith’s utter lack of honesty and originality, as well as his willful omission of proper attribution.
With character like his to found a church, who needs Mohammad, Charles Taze Russell, or L. Ron Hubbard?!
A.A.C.