The Book of Mormon

Alma 54:11

1830 Edition

But behold, it supposeth me that I talk to you concerning these things in vain; or it supposeth me that thou art a child of hell; therefore I will close my epistle, by telling you that I will not exchange prisoners, save it be on conditions that ye will deliver up a man, and his wife, and his children, for one prisoner; if this be the case that ye will do it, I will exchange.

Changes

But behold, it supposeth me that I talk to you concerning these things in vain; or it supposeth me that thou art a child of hell; therefore I will close my epistle, by telling you that I will not exchange prisoners, save it be on conditions that ye will deliver up a man, and his wife, and his children, for one prisoner; if this be the case that ye will do it, I will exchange.

Simple English

But I think I am wasting my time talking to you about these things. I think you are a child of hell. So I will end my letter by telling you this: I will not trade prisoners unless you give me a man, his wife, and his children for one prisoner. If you will do this, I will trade.

Paraphrase

But I’m probably wasting my breath. I think you’re a child of hell. So let me close by telling you this: I won’t exchange prisoners unless you agree to these terms—you hand over a man, his wife, and his children for each one of our prisoners. If you agree to that, I’ll make the exchange.