All over the world, Latter-day Saints in Gospel Doctrine classes are finishing 2 Ne. 12-24 with a sigh. For many, it’s a sigh of relief since these thirteen chapters, virtually reproducing Isaiah 2-14, are often thought of as the most difficult in the Book of Mormon. For others, however, it’s a sigh of regret-because Nephi didn’t choose to include more of Isaiah, which offers some of the most lovely, stirring, and inspiring words in all of scripture. What, you didn’t feel that last week?
At our house, we just completed all 66 chapters of Isaiah in family scripture reading, and we rather enjoyed it (at least as much as we enjoy any scriptures at 6:00 am, before early morning seminary). I confess, however, that we read Isaiah in the New Revised Standard Version, which is a revision of the King James Bible that updates the language a bit, takes into account newly-discovered manuscripts like the Dead Sea Scrolls, and perhaps most importantly, provides topical headings, indicates changes of speakers, and puts the poetry into poetic form. It works better for reading aloud, and now when I return to the Book of Mormon, I have a much clearer idea of what is going on in 2 Ne. 12-24. (I tried to recreate some of this formatting in the Reader’s Edition of the Book of Mormon.) In the discussion that follows, I’ll focus on Isaiah 2-14, which Nephi thought important enough for his Latter-day readers that he laboriously engraved those chapters onto metal plates.
What Does It Say?
The first challenge in reading Isaiah is simply understanding his language. A glance at any modern translation will reveal that Isaiah 2-14 is mainly poetry (with the exception of a few scattered verses and most of chapters 4, 6, and 7). Biblical Hebrew poetry is characterized not by rhyme or accent, but by repetition-usually in two-line couplets. The second line sometimes seems to say the same thing in different words, but often it elaborates or extends the meaning of the first line. So, for example, 2 Ne. 12:4 reads:
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks-nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
If you were to format that sentence into poetic lines, it would be easier to know where to look for subtle variation and where to expect new ideas:
And he shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many people;
and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares
and their spears into pruning-hooks-
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
And so it goes for chapter upon chapter. It’s not too bad once you get the hang of it. [For a good discussion with different examples, see this recent blogpost or this older article from the Ensign on Old Testament poetry.
The King James Version, which was borrowed for the Book of Mormon translation, was a rather literal rendering of the Hebrew, and sometimes comparing modern versions allows us to see the meaning behind the words that were used by the Bible translators in 1611. For instance, 2 Ne. 18:12 (Isa. 8:12) reads: “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.” The NRSV translates this as “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread.” Looking back at the Book of Mormon, I can better make out Isaiah’s intention.
Sometimes there are problems in the underlying Hebrew which the Book of Mormon didn’t correct. 2 Ne. 15:17 provides an example. When you come across something like “Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat,” you may say (along with me), “What the heck?” The New International Version, following the ancient Greek Septuagint translation-which, incidentally, was the Bible of the first Christians-renders the verse as “Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.” Much better. When I read Isaiah, I usually have close at hand the New Revised Standard Version, the New International Version, and the New Jewish Publication Society translation (the last of these I was first introduced to in a BYU Isaiah class, long ago). But simply comparing translations doesn’t really allow us access to the doctrinal richness of Isaiah; for that we need to turn to the Book of Mormon.
What Did It Mean to Nephi?
A second difficulty is trying to determine what Isaiah’s words meant in their historical context. The immediate concern of Isaiah 2-14 was the Syro-Ephraimite War of 735-732 BC (in which Judah’s two Northern neighbors attempted to force her into an anti-Assyrian alliance), the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 722, and then an Assyrian invasion of Judah which culminated in a siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC. Isaiah foretells a purging of Jerusalem before it can attain its status as a world capital (ch. 2-4), he prophesies of judgments that will come upon both Israel and Judah (ch. 5), recounts his calling as a prophet in 742 BC and his warnings to Judah’s King Ahaz not to entangle his country with either Israel, Syria, or Assyria (ch. 6-8). He then warns of disasters that will come to Israel, Assyria, Babylon, and Philistia (ch. 9-14), with a promise of the restoration of the Davidic line of kings in ch. 11.
All of this was incorporated by Nephi into the Small Plates. Why? Most of these events would have been played out over a century before Nephi took up his engraving tools. Wouldn’t it be a little like President Monson including long excerpts from the Lincoln-Douglas debates in his autobiography?
As a history professor, I find Middle Eastern power politics of the 8th century BC fascinating, so I often consult commentaries that explain the rise and fall of ancient empires, the nuances of archaic Hebrew, the intricacies of textual transmission, and the identification of defunct geographical and ethnic terms. (For a quick take, I like the footnotes in the New Oxford Annotated Bible, but Joseph Blenkinsopp’s three-volume commentary in the Anchor Bible series is the gold standard.) Yet this does not seem to be Nephi’s major concern. As he noted at the beginning of 2 Ne. 25, “Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews. For I, Nephi, have not taught them many things concerning the manner of the Jews.”
Fortunately, Nephi himself gives us some clues as to what these chapters meant to him, in his introduction in 2 Ne. 11 and his commentary at 2 Ne. 25-30. In chapter 11, he tells his readers that the prophecies of Isaiah have some application to the Lehites, that Isaiah foresaw the coming of the Lord, and that “whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men.
” We tend to focus on the second of these points and turn quickly to 2 Ne. 17:14 (= Isa. 7:14), “A virgin shall conceive,”” and 2 Ne. 19:6 (= Isa. 9:6), “For unto us a child is born.” Both of these prophecies seem to refer to children born in the 8th century BC, though as is often the case, Isaiah’s prophecies can have multiple fulfillments and Christians have long interpreted these verses as pointing toward Jesus (starting with Matt. 1:22-23). Yet it is not clear that Nephi sees them this way; he never highlights them or even refers to them in his commentary, despite his deep interest in Christ.
In 2 Ne. 25:1-8, as Nephi begins his commentary, he highlights two themes: 1) the judgments of God that will “come upon all nations,” and 2) the nature and fulfillment of prophecy. His message seems to be Just as Isaiah’s prophecies about political alliances, invasions, and destruction in the last century came to pass, so you may be assured that my father’s prophecies about the coming Messiah and my own visions of calamity on both Jews and Gentiles (i.e. everyone) in the last days will similarly be fulfilled. In addition, the warnings about impending doom for Jerusalem would have taken on a particular edge for Nephi, writing at the time of the Babylonian conquest (even if that same city seemed to have been spared back in 701 BC), and the oracles against Babylon in Isaiah 14 would have also been meaningful to a family that, because of the Babylonians, had fled their homeland.
Brevard Childs, a high respected biblical scholar from Yale, has characterized the opening chapters of Isaiah in this way:
The problem of judgment and salvation for the people of God appears in an especially acute form in the book of Isaiah. In the first twelve chapters the prophet speaks of a rejected people (ch. 3) against whom the avenging arm of God is still outstretched in judgment (ch. 5) until the whole tree is utterly destroyed (ch. 6). Yet in these same chapters the prophet pictures a cleansed and sanctified people of God (ch. 4), living in peace and harmony, awaiting the transformation of the kingdom of God (ch. 9) with a return to a paradisal state of the world (ch. 11). Moreover, it is clear in Isaiah that the hope of a new people is not simply a future wish, but the prophet sees a faithful remnant actually emerging and present in the death pangs of the old. (Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context, pp. 95-96)
In his commentary at 2 Ne. 25-30, Nephi calls attention to the combination of judgment and salvation that will apply to his own people in the future, and in particular, he picks up a subsidiary topic that runs throughout Isa. 2-14: the destiny of the remnant that would outlast the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, either as survivors in the land or as returning exiles (see Isa. 4:2-6, 6:12-13, 10:20-27, 11:11-16, 14:1-2). Nephi writes briefly of the Jewish return from Babylon that would take place in 538 BC under Cyrus (2 Ne. 25:11), but then expands this idea to include the scattering and then restoration of the house of Israel in the latter days, in conjunction with the efforts of the Gentiles and the revelation of a new scripture (the Book of Mormon itself). Along the way he sprinkles in phrases from the Isaiah chapters he has just quoted (ch. 3, 5, 8, 11, 13), and he incorporates large portions of Isaiah 29 interlinearly into a new prophecy that was fulfilled when Martin Harris lost the 116 manuscript pages. (See 2 Ne. 27 in the Reader’s Edition.)
What Does It Mean For Us?
Nephi’s commentary demonstrates that prophecies can have multiple levels of meaning, and that later prophets are authorized to expand upon and apply ancient teachings to new situations. As we see Isaiah’s words fulfilled in the 8th century BC, the 6th century BC, the first centuries of the Christian era, and the 19th century, we are reminded that the Lord’s promises are sure, and that those prophecies that have not yet come to pass will someday be realized. We can learn of the part that we will play in God’s work in the latter days, especially as we promote the Book of Mormon.
Nephi helps us understand that God’s word brings judgment as well as salvation, condemnation as well as comfort, and there are specific warnings for our day. What might the early chapters of Isaiah mean for us? Watch as Nephi explains at 2 Ne. 26:20-23, drawing on chapters that he has just quoted at length:
And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block [Isa. 8:14-15], that they have built up many churches; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and grind upon the faces of the poor [Isa. 3:15]. And there are many churches built up which cause envyings, and strifes, and malice.
And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord [cf. Isa. 5:18], until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
Pride, skepticism, religious strife, taking advantage of the poor, deadly conspiracies, subtle temptations; sound familiar?
Nephi ends his commentary by quoting Isaiah 11 yet again-undoubtedly the part of chapters 2-14 that most spoke to him, or that he felt would be of “great worth unto them in the last days” (2 Ne. 25:8). Here it is, with Isaiah’s words in their proper poetic form, and Nephi’s additions in regular blocked type:
And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth.
And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor,
and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
And then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling, together;
and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed;
their young ones shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Wherefore, the things of all nations shall be made known; yea, all things shall be made known unto the children of men. There is nothing which is secret save it shall be revealed; there is no work of darkness save it shall be made manifest in the light; and there is nothing which is sealed upon the earth save it shall be loosed.
Again, we see a mixture of judgment and salvation. In the last line, Nephi was probably thinking about the “sealed book” of Isaiah 29 and 2 Ne. 27, but perhaps also the law, or teachings, that would be sealed among Isaiah’s disciples (Isa. 8:16-17). Nephi certainly saw himself as one of Isaiah’s disciples, revealing the deeper meaning of the prophet’s words and urging the confused or disappointed to keep the faith. And he leaves us with a lovely, inspiring image of the Messianic age yet to come.
How could we not wish that Nephi had quoted, explained, and expanded upon even more of the book of Isaiah? The next time you make it to 2 Ne. 25, where the Isaiah quotations stop, or to 2 Ne. 30, where Nephi’s commentary comes to an end, perhaps you too might sigh and say, “Is that all there is? A little more would have been nice.”
Grant Hardy is the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and the author of Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010). His most recent publications include the Oxford History of Historical Writing, Vol. 1 and Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition, a 36-lecture cd/dvd course produced by the Great Courses. Hardy is a professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Asheville.
