In Isaiah 29, the Lord promises to do “a marvellous work” among his people, “even a marvellous work and a wonder” (Isaiah 29:14). That’s the way the King James Version renders it. The original Hebrew uses three forms of the same root. Pala (פָלָא) is translated as “marvellous work” twice and as “a wonder” once. The word means something extraordinary, something that seems impossible. The first time it appears in the Bible is when God assures Abraham that his wife Sarah will bear a son: “Is anything too hard [pala] for the Lord?” He asks (Genesis 18:14).
Other English translations of Isaiah 29:14 stay closer to the Hebrew. In the New International Version, for example, the Lord says, “I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder.” And Smith’s Literal Translation fully imitates the repetition, sacrificing standard English usage a little in the process: “Behold me adding to be wonderful with this people, dealing wonderfully and being a wonder.”
Long before Nephi quotes Isaiah, he relates a vision in which an angel tells him that God will “work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other” (1 Nephi 14:7). The stakes are high. This is not a one-time event.
In the concluding chapter of his first book, he provides more detail about this event. It will occur after his father’s descendants have been scattered by the Gentiles. At that time, “the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed. … And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” (1 Nephi 22:8-9). The recipient list is expansive, mirroring the Title Page of the Book of Mormon: the Lamanites, the Gentiles, and the house of Israel.
Nephi equates this work with the restoration or recovery of the house of Israel (2 Nephi 25:17; 29:1).
When Jesus visited Nephi’s descendants, He explained that for His sake, the Father would do “a great and a marvelous work.” Like the angel who spoke with Nephi, He emphasized that this wonder would divide people. “There shall be among them those who will not believe it.” They would wound a messenger, but Jesus would heal him, “for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil” (3 Nephi 21:9-10).
The pattern is clear: God will provide wonders with the purpose of gathering His people. Some will recognize them. Others will reject them, but even they will have difficulty explaining away God’s miracles.
In 1829, Joseph Smith received five revelations addressed to family members and friends which opened with some variant of: “A marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:1; 6:1; 11:1; 12:1; 14:1). These revelations identify the restoration of the gospel, including the publication of the Book of Mormon, as a direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
In Nephi’s expanded version of Isaiah 29, God responds to the unlearned man who protests that he is unqualified to help, “I am able to do mine own work” (2 Nephi 27:20-21). One thing that makes His work wonderful is that He uses ordinary people to carry it out, people who wouldn’t be able to do it on their own.
Wonder upon wonder: that work continues today, with millions of ordinary people working miracles with God’s help!
Today I will be grateful for God’s wonders, including the fact that He allows ordinary people like me to assist in His work.
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