2 Nephi 6-10 Jacob Reads the Words of Isaiah

Seven hundred years before Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah saw the ministry of Jesus and wrote about it.

2 Nephi 6:1-5 What’s the Point?

Have students find phrases that will answer these questions:

1) Why is Jacob speaking?

2) What has he already spoken about?

3) What is he going to speak about?


2 Nephi 6:6-15 The Coming of Messiah

The children of Israel are all persons who keep the commandments of God and follow his prophets. They will receive the blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Compare 2 Nephi 6:8-9 to 2 Nephi 6:14-15. How will the first coming of the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, be different from his Second Coming? What can we do to prepare for the Savior’s Second Coming?

2 Nephi 10:24 “Reconcile yourselves to the will of God”

Have students read 2 Nephi 10:11-23 and list all the reasons why we should “reconcile ourselves to” or “follow” the will of God. How can we know and follow God’s will?

2 Nephi 7:1-11 Reading Isaiah

Scripture Analysis

Show students the following pattern for reading Isaiah. Then invite them to read and interpret Isaiah 8:1-16 on their own. Help them see that Isaiah groups ideas together. By reading all the ideas, you can begin to understand what the more difficult phrases mean.

1.Yea, for thus saith the Lord: [These are the words of the Lord through Isaiah the prophet]

Have I put thee away, or
have I cast thee off forever? [This is a standard way of writing for the Jews. They love to repeat ideas. If you don’t understand the first phrase, let the second or third phrase help you.]

For thus saith the Lord:
Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?
To whom have I put thee away, or
to which of my creditors have I sold you?
Yea, to whom have I sold you? [Can you figure out what Isaiah is saying by looking at all four questions?]

Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and
for your transgressions is your mother put away. [Isaiah uses two phrases to answer the questions he asked earlier.]

2. Wherefore [because you have sold yourselves with your sins],
when I came, there was no man;
when I called, yea, there was none to answer.

O house of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or
have I no power to deliver?

[These are all the ways God shows his people that he still has power to help them.]
Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make their rivers a wilderness and
their fish to stink because the waters are dried up, and
they die because of thirst.
3. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and
I make sackcloth their covering.

[Isaiah now speaks as if he were the Messiah,]
4. The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season unto thee, O house of Israel.

When ye are weary he waketh morning by morning.
He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned.

5. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and
I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back.
6. I gave my back to the smiter, and
my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.
I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
7. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded.
Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and
I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8. And the Lord is near, and
he justifieth me.

Who will contend with me? Let us stand together.
Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth.

9. For the Lord God will help me.
And all they who shall condemn me,
behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and
the moth shall eat them up.
10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of his servant,
that walketh in darkness and hath no light?

11. Behold all ye that kindle fire,
that compass yourselves about with sparks,
walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled.

This shall ye have of mine hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.

2 Nephi 8:17-25 Reading Isaiah

Scripture Analysis

Help students read Isaiah by showing them the following pattern.

17 Awake, awake,
stand up, O Jerusalem,

[Isaiah compares the trials of the Jews to a bitter cup of wine.]
which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury—
thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out—

[All the leaders of Israel have been killed.]
18 And none to guide her among all the sons she hath brought forth;
neither that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons she hath brought up.

19 These two sons are come unto thee, who shall be sorry for thee—

[These are the names of the two sons.]
thy desolation and destruction, and
the famine and the sword—

and by whom shall I comfort thee?

[All Israel’s leaders have been killed. Only desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword are left.]
20 Thy sons have fainted, save these two;
they lie at the head of all the streets;

[These words describe the people who want to kill the children of Israel.]
as a wild bull in a net,
they are full of the fury of the Lord,
the rebuke of thy God.

[The Lord gives Israel hope with these words.]
21 Therefore hear now this,
thou afflicted,
and drunken,
and not with wine:
22 Thus saith thy Lord,
the Lord and thy God pleadeth the cause of his people; behold,
I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling,
the dregs of the cup of my fury;
thou shalt no more drink it again.

[The Lord will give the enemies of Israel the bitter cup that Israel had to drink.]
23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee;
who have said to thy soul:
Bow down, that we may go over—
and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over.

[The terrible time is over. It is time to celebrate.]
24 Awake, awake,
put on thy strength, O Zion;
put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city;

for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

25 Shake thyself from the dust;
arise,
sit down, O Jerusalem;
loose thyself from the bands of thy neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.

2 Nephi 9 Jacob Rejoices in the Words of Isaiah

Have students find all the verses that begin with the word “O” (2 Nephi 9:8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 20, 28, 39, 40, 44, 45). Have students divide the verses into two groups: one, verses that talk about the greatness of God; and two, verses that give us warnings. What can we learn about the love of God from these verses?