After quoting thirteen chapters in a row from the book of Isaiah, Nephi provides his commentary—sort of. He opens by saying, “I, Nephi, do speak somewhat concerning the words which I have written, which have been spoken by the mouth of Isaiah” (2 Nephi 25:1). He broadly references the themes of the chapters as he offers his own testimony of Jesus Christ, in 2 Nephi 25 and 26.
He then shifts gears, paraphrasing and expanding on another chapter, Isaiah 29, in 2 Nephi 27. Finally, he closes his commentary with three messages which borrow from and synthesize content from Isaiah in different ways (2 Nephi 28-30). In the next three blog posts, we will explore how Nephi’s use of Isaiah in those three chapters, particularly Isaiah 2-14 helps us understand Isaiah more fully.
2 Nephi 28
- Many Churches: The chapter opens with a book (the book prophesied in Isaiah 29—the Book of Mormon) coming forth in a day when many churches have been built up, each one claiming to be the true church of God. “Behold, I, I am the Lord’s,” they each say (2 Nephi 28:3; compare Isaiah 44:5).
- Human Knowledge vs. Revelation: The priests in those churches will “contend one with another” and will “teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost” (2 Nephi 28:4). This parallels the people Isaiah condemns who “are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” (Isaiah 5:21).
- Warning Against Denying God’s Power: These priests will say, “There is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work” (2 Nephi 28:5-6). This is similar to Isaiah’s condemnation of people who challenge God: “Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!” (Isaiah 5:19).
- Warning Against Ignoring God: Some will say “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us” (2 Nephi 28:7-8). This is likely derived from Isaiah 22:13, and it is similar to Isaiah’s woe against those who drink and party all day but pay no attention to God’s work (Isaiah 5:11-12).
- …And Even Trying to Hide from God: People who preach these false doctrines will “seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark” (2 Nephi 28:9; quoted directly from Isaiah 29:15).
- Warning Against Harming the Poor: In accumulating great wealth, rich people will “rob the poor” (2 Nephi 28:13). This echoes Isaiah’s warning: “The spoil of the poor is in your houses” (Isaiah 3:14), as well as his woe upon those who “join house to house … till there be no place” (Isaiah 5:8).
- Stiff Necks: These proud people will “wear stiff necks and high heads” (2 Nephi 28:14), which sounds a lot like Isaiah’s description of the misguided daughters of Zion, who “walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes” (Isaiah 3:16).
- Precepts of Men: Even those who are trying to be righteous are led astray “because they are taught by the precepts of men” (2 Nephi 28:14; compare Isaiah 29:13).
- Warning Against Pride: Nephi pronounces woes upon the proud, saying “they shall be thrust down to hell!” (2 Nephi 28:15; compare Luke 10:15). This mirrors Isaiah’s prophecy that the king of Babylon, who aspired to “ascend above the heights of the clouds,” will be “brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:14-15).
- Warning Against Disparaging Good Things: Nephi says, “Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth!” (2 Nephi 28:16; compare Isaiah 29:21), echoing Isaiah’s warning against those who “justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” (Isaiah 5:23).
- Fall of Babylon: The great and abominable church will “tumble to the earth,” and “the kingdom of the devil must shake” (2 Nephi 28:18-19), recalling once again the fall of Babylon in Isaiah 13 and 14.
- Warning Against Complacency: People will become complacent, saying, “All is well in Zion.” Nephi warns, “Wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!” (2 Nephi 28:21-25), a phrase taken from Amos 6:1.
- Incremental Learning: Nephi warns against saying, “We have received, and we need no more!” (2 Nephi 28:27-29), matching Isaiah’s lament, “My people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge” (Isaiah 5:13). He quotes another passage from Isaiah to explain that we learn “line upon line” and “precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30; Isaiah 28:9-13).
- Trust God, Not Man: Nephi quotes Jeremiah: “Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm” (2 Nephi 28:31; Jeremiah 17:5).
- God’s Merciful Arm: Nephi ends with the assurance that God’s “arm is lengthened out all the day long,” in mercy (2 Nephi 28:32). This mirrors a common refrain in the chapters Nephi quoted: “His hand is stretched out still” Isaiah 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4.
Nephi’s overarching message in this chapter is: trust God, not people. He opens with religious leaders who trust their own wisdom but deny God’s power, and he closes with people who believe that they have received enough knowledge from God and don’t need any more. In the center, he laments that even good people are led astray when they are “taught by the precepts of men.” Along the way, he issues six warnings, which broadly mirror the content of the woes in Isaiah 5: warning against denying God’s power, ignoring God, harming the poor, pride, disparaging good things, and complacency. The consequences of ignoring these warnings echo Isaiah’s prophecies of the fall of the Babylonian Empire. Finally, Nephi borrows Isaiah’s repeated imagery of God’s arm stretched out to assure his readers that God continues to reach out to them in mercy, “all the day long.”
Today I will be careful not to prioritize human knowledge over God’s wisdom. I will continue to seek revelation from Him, remembering that His merciful arm is continually stretched out toward me.
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