Keywords

teaching, hope, Nephi, Isaiah

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Nephi and later Book of Mormon authors typically explain their uses of Isaiah’s writings in their own records. These statements occur in the framing material before and after lengthy quotations. Before Nephi’s first such quotation—the entirety of Isaiah 48–49—he offers a reason for reading this block of text to his family members, one that ultimately explains his including it in his small plates record: “But that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer, wherefore I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah” (1 Nephi 19:23).[1] This oft-cited statement of purpose is germane to understanding Nephi’s reliance on Isaiah. It is also consistent with his statement of purpose for the small plates as a whole: “For the fullness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and be saved” (1 Nephi 6:4).