After Jacob’s Sermon, Nephi carries on with the religious teaching in the land of Nephi. He proceeds to open up the brass plates and quote extensively from the writings of Isaiah, saying, “I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him.” This shows that Nephi was concerned with the Messianic prophesies of Isaiah, and how they related to the people of the covenant—the type of people Nephi was trying to lead.

For a concise overview of the Nephi’s Isaiah quotations, click here.

While Isaiah is general respected and revered, the “Isaiah chapters” are dreaded by many readers. Some of the reasons for this include the absences of any cohesive narrative; symbols, metaphors, and allegories that seem very obscure or cryptic, and a prose that is difficult for untrained readers to follow. Acknowledging these issues, Boyd K. Packer said:

“The Book of Mormon is a book of scripture. It is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is written in biblical language, the language of the prophets. For the most part, it is in easy-flowing New Testament language, with such words as spake for spoke, unto for to, with and it came to pass, with thus and thou and thine. You will not read many pages into it until you catch the cadence of that language and the narrative will be easy to understand. As a matter of fact, most teenagers readily understand the narrative of the Book of Mormon.

“Then, just as you settle in to move comfortably along, you will meet a barrier. The style of the language changes to Old Testament prophecy style. For, interspersed in the narrative, are chapters reciting the prophecies of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. They loom as a barrier, like a roadblock or a checkpoint beyond which the casual reader, one with idle curiosity, generally will not go. You, too, may be tempted to stop there, but do not do it! Do not stop reading! Move forward through those difficult-to-understand chapters of Old Testament prophecy, even if you understand very little of it. Move on, if all you do is skim and merely glean an impression here and there. Move on, if all you do is look at the words. …… The Lord had a purpose in preserving the prophecies of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, notwithstanding they become a barrier to the casual reader. Those who never move beyond the Isaiah chapters miss the personal treasures to be gathered along the way”

(in Conference Report, Apr. 1986, 76–77; or Ensign, May 1986, 61)

So what might these “personal treasures” be? For one, Isaiah’s writing show us something very significant about the nature of God. Isaiah chronicles the stubbornness, wickedness, and disobedience of Israel, who abandons God, is subsequently devastated by Assyria and brought to ruin as Babylon rises. Yet, ultimately, Babylon falls, the Lord redeems Israel, and gathers them once again unto him. Surely this is a message of hope and peace for mankind’s fallen state.

Also, the parable of the vineyard in 2 Ne 15:1-7 gives us a saddening look into the frustrations of God’s plan. The Lord spent unmeasurable time and effort into the vineyard, yet it produced bad fruit. We’ll get an expansion on this idea when we read Zenos’ elaboration on this concept in Jacob 5, and we will see the how the Lord’s reacts.

Isaiah words are in fact difficult to read. One cannot expect to glean every insight there is on any pass through the text. But if you keep looking for nuggets of wisdom and insight as you read, you are bound to find some.

See these posts that dissect a few elements of Isaiah’s words:

• Who—or What—is Lucifer?
• His Hand is Stretched Out Still