THE SECOND BOOK OF NEFI Chapter 5

  1. The words of Ya’akov, the brother of Nefi, which he spoke unto the people of Nefi: Behold, my beloved brothers, I, Ya’akov, having been called of Elohim and ordained after the manner of his Holy Order, and having been consecrated by my brother Nefi, unto whom you look as a king or a protector and on whom you depend for safety, behold, you know that I have spoken unto you exceedingly many things. Nevertheless, I speak unto you again, for I am desirous for the welfare of your souls. Yes, my anxiety is great for you; and you yourselves know that it always has been, for I have exhorted you with all diligence. And I have taught you the words of my father, and I have spoken unto you concerning all things which are written from the creation of the world.
  2. And now behold, I would speak unto you concerning things which are and which are to come; wherefore, I will read you the words of Yesha’yahu. And they are the words which my brother has desired that I should speak unto you. And I speak them unto you for your sakes, that you may learn and glorify the name of your Elohim. And now the words which I shall read are they which Yesha’yahu spoke concerning all the house of Isra’el; wherefore, they may be applied unto you, for you are of the house of Isra’el. And there are many things which have been spoken by Yesha’yahu which may be applied unto you because you are of the house of Isra’el.
  3. And now these are the words: Thus says Adonai yhwh: Behold,69 I will lift up my hand to the Goyim and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be your nursing fathers and their queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces towards the earth and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am yhwh, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.70
  4. And now I, Ya’akov, would speak somewhat concerning these words. For behold, yhwh has shown me that those who were at Yerushalayim, from where we came, have been slain and carried away captive; nevertheless, yhwh has shown unto me that they should return71 again. And he also has shown unto me that Adonai yhwh, HaKodesh of Isra’el, should manifest himself unto them in the flesh. And after he should manifest himself, they should scourge him and crucify72 him, according to the words of the angel who spoke it unto me. And after they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against HaKodesh of Isra’el, behold, the judgments of HaKodesh of Isra’el shall come upon them. And the day comes that they shall be smitten and afflicted. Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, for thus says the angel, many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be allowed to perish because of the prayers of the faithful. They shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; nevertheless, yhwh will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered73 together again to the lands of their inheritance.
  5. And blessed are the Goyim,74 they of whom the prophet has written. For behold, if it so be that they shall repent, and fight not against Tziyon, and do not unite themselves to that great and abominable church, they shall be saved. For Adonai yhwh will fulfill his covenants which he has made unto his children; and for this cause the prophet has written these things. Wherefore, they that fight against Tziyon and the covenant people of yhwh shall lick up the dust of their feet; and the people of yhwh shall not be ashamed. For the people of yhwh are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Mashiach. And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Mashiach will set himself again the second time to recover them.75 Wherefore, he will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day comes when they shall believe in him; and none will he destroy that believes in him. And they that believe not in him shall be destroyed,76 both by fire, and by tempest, and by earthquakes, and by bloodsheds, and by pestilence, and by famine. And they shall know that yhwh is Elohim, HaKodesh of Isra’el. For shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Or the lawful captive delivered? But thus says yhwh: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for the mighty Elohim shall deliver his covenant people. For thus says yhwh: I will contend with them that contend with you; and I will feed them that oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, yhwh, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Ya’akov.77

    6. Yesha’yahu 50 from the Plates of Brass

  6. Yes, for thus says yhwh: Have I put you away? Or have I cast you off for ever? For thus says yhwh: Where is the bill of your Mother’s divorcement? To whom have I put you away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Yes, to whom have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your Mother put away. Wherefore, when I came, there was no man; when I called, yes, there was none to answer. O house of Isra’el, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness and their fish to stink because the waters are dried up, 78 and they die because of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering.
  7. Adonai yhwh has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season unto you, O house of Isra’el, when you are weary. He wakes morning by morning; he wakes my ear to hear as the learned. Adonai yhwh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 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. For Adonai yhwh 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. And yhwh is near, and he justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth. For Adonai yhwh will help me. And all they who shall condemn me, behold, all they shall become old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that fears yhwh, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Behold, all you that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which you have kindled. This shall you have of my hand: You shall lie down in sorrow.

    8. Yesha’yahu 51:1 – 52:2 from the Plates of Brass

  8. Hearken to me, you that follow after righteousness. Look unto the rock from which you are cut, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug. Look unto Avraham, your father, and unto Sarah, she that bore you; for I called him alone and blessed him. For yhwh shall comfort Tziyon; he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of yhwh. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation, for a torah shall proceed from me and I will make my judgment to rest for a light for the people. My Righteousness is near, my Salvation is gone forth, and my Arm shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon me, and on my Arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall become old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my Salvation shall be for ever, and my Righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my torah. Fear you not the reproach of men, neither be you afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my Righteousness shall be for ever, and my Salvation from generation to generation.
  9. Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of yhwh. Awake as in the ancient days. Are you not he who has cut Rahav and wounded the dragon? Are you not he who has dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that has made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore, the redeemed of yhwh shall return and come with singing unto Tziyon, and everlasting joy and holiness 79 shall be upon their heads. And they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and mourning shall flee away. I am he, yes, I am he that comforts you.
  10. Behold, 80 who are you, that you should be afraid of man who shall die and of the son of man who shall be made like unto grass, and forget yhwh your maker that has stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and has feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am yhwh your Elohim, whose waves roared; yhwh Tzva’ot is my name. And I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Tziyon, Behold, you are my people.
  11. Awake, awake, stand up, O Yerushalayim, which has drunk at the hand of yhwh the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out — and none to guide her, among all the sons she has brought forth, neither that takes her by the hand, of all the sons she has brought up. These two sons are come unto you. Who shall be sorry for you — your desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword? And by whom shall I comfort you? Your sons have fainted, except 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 yhwh, the rebuke of your Elohim.
  12. Therefore, hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken and not with wine. Thus says your Adon — yhwh and your Elohim pleads the cause of his people: Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury; you shall no more drink it again. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down that we may go over — and you have laid your body as the ground and as the street to them that went over.
  13. Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Tziyon. Put on your beautiful garments, O Yerushalayim, the holy city. For henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust. Arise, sit down, O Yerushalayim. Loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Tziyon.