2 Nephi Chapter 5
| 1 | The words of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, which he spake unto the people of Nephi. | 2 | Behold, my beloved brethren, that I, Jacob, having been called of God, and ordained after the manner of his holy order, | 3 | And having been consecrated by my brother, Nephi, unto whom ye look as a king or a protector, and on whom ye depend for safety, | 4 | Behold, ye know that I have spoken unto you exceeding many things; | 5 | Nevertheless, I speak unto you again; for I am desirous for the welfare of your souls. | 6 | Yea, mine anxiety is great for you; and ye yourselves know that it ever has been. | 7 | For I have exhorted you with all diligence; and I have taught you the words of my father; | 8 | And I have spoken unto you concerning all things which are written from the creation of the world. | 9 | And now, behold, I would speak unto you concerning things which are, and which are to come; | 10 | Wherefore, I will read you the words of Isaiah. | 11 | And they are the words which my brother hath desired me that I should speak unto you. | 12 | And I speak them unto you for your sakes, that ye may learn and glorify the name of your God. | 13 | And now the words which I shall read, are they which Isaiah spake concerning all the house of Israel; | 14 | Wherefore, they may be likened unto you; for ye are of the house of Israel. | 15 | And there are many things which have been spoken by Isaiah, which may be likened unto you, because that ye are of the house of Israel. | 16 | And now, these are the words: | 17 | Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; | 18 | And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. | 19 | And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: | 20 | They shall bow down to thee with their faces towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; | 21 | And thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. | 22 | And now I, Jacob, would speak somewhat concerning these words: For behold, the Lord hath shewn me that they which were at Jerusalem, from whence we came, have been slain and carried away captive; | 23 | Nevertheless, the Lord hath shewn unto me that they should return again. | 24 | And he also hath shewn unto me, that the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, should manifest himself unto them in the flesh; | 25 | And after that he should manifest himself, they should scourge him and crucify him, according to the words of the angel, which spake it unto me. | 26 | And after that they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold the judgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. | 27 | And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted. | 28 | Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, for thus saith the angel, many shall be afflicted in the flesh and shall not be suffered to perish, because of the prayers of the faithful; wherefore, they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; | 29 | Nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance. | 30 | And blessed are the Gentiles, they of whom the prophet hath written: | 31 | For behold, if it so be that they shall repent and fight not against Zion, and do not unite themselves to that great and abominable church, they shall be saved: | 32 | For the Lord God will fulfill his covenants which he hath made unto his children: and for this cause the prophet hath written these things. | 33 | Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord, shall lick up the dust of their feet; | 34 | And the people of the Lord shall not be ashamed. | 35 | For the people of the Lord are they which wait for him: for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah. | 36 | And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah will set himself again the second time, to recover them; | 37 | Wherefore, he will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day cometh when they shall believe in him; | 38 | And none will he destroy that believe in him. | 39 | And they that believe not in him, shall be destroyed, both by fire, and by tempest, and by earthquakes, and by bloodsheds, and by pestilence, and by famine. | 40 | And they shall know that the Lord is God, the Holy One of Israel: | 41 | For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? | 42 | But thus saith the Lord; Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for the mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. | 43 | For thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with thee, and I will feed them that oppress thee, with their own flesh; | 44 | And they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; | 45 | And all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. | 46 | Yea, for thus saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever? | 47 | For thus saith the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement? | 48 | To whom have I put thee away, or to which of my creditors have I sold you? | 49 | Yea, to whom have I sold you? | 50 | Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away; | 51 | Wherefore, when I came, there was no man; when I called, yea, there was none to answer. | 52 | O, House of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver? | 53 | 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. | 54 | I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. | 55 | 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. | 56 | When ye are weary, he waketh morning by morning. | 57 | He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned. | 58 | The Lord God hath appointed mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. | 59 | I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. | 60 | I hid not my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me: therefore, shall I not be confounded. | 61 | Therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed; and the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. | 62 | Who will contend with me? | 63 | Let us stand together. | 64 | Who is mine adversary? | 65 | Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth: for the Lord God will help me. | 66 | And all they which shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up. | 67 | Who is among you that feareth the Lord; that obeyeth the voice of his servant; that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? | 68 | 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. | 69 | This shall ye have of mine hand: Ye shall lie down in sorrow. | 70 | Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness: Look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged. | 71 | Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah, she that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him. | 72 | For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; | 73 | And he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. | 74 | Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. | 75 | Hearken unto me, my people; give ear unto me, O my nation: | 76 | For a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light for the people. | 77 | My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arm shall judge the people. | 78 | The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. | 79 | Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: | 80 | For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein, shall die in like manner. | 81 | But my salvation shall be forever; and my righteousness shall not be abolished. | 82 | Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law; | 83 | Fear ye not the reproach of men; neither be ye afraid of their revilings; | 84 | For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. | 85 | But my righteousness shall be forever; and my salvation from generation to generation. | 86 | Awake, awake! Put on strength O arm of the Lord: awake as in the ancient days. | 87 | Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? | 88 | Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; | 89 | That hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? | 90 | Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; | 91 | And they shall obtain gladness and joy: sorrow and mourning shall flee away. | 92 | I am he; yea, I am he that comforteth you: | 93 | Behold, who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of man, which shall die, and of the son of man, which shall be made like unto grass; | 94 | And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; | 95 | And hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? | 96 | And where is the fury of the oppressor? | 97 | The captive exile hasteneth, that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. | 98 | But I am the Lord thy God that divided the sea, whose waves roared: the Lord of hosts is my name. | 99 | And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Behold, thou art my people. | 100 | Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; | 101 | Thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out; | 102 | And none to guide her among all the sons she hath brought forth; | 103 | Neither that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons she hath brought up. | 104 | These two sons are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee: thy desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword: | 105 | And by whom shall I comfort thee? | 106 | Thy sons have fainted, save these two: they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. | 107 | Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, and not with wine: | 108 | Thus saith thy Lord, The Lord and thy God pleadeth the cause of his people: | 109 | 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. | 110 | But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down that we may go over: | 111 | And thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over. | 112 | Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: | 113 | For henceforth there shall no more come into thee, the uncircumcised and the unclean. | 114 | Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. |