THE SECOND BOOK OF NEFI Chapter 8

  1. And now Ya’akov spoke many more things to my people at that time. Nevertheless, only these things have I caused to be written, for the things which I have written suffice me.
  2. And now I, Nefi, write more of the words of Yesha’yahu, for my soul delights in his words. For I will apply his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children; for he truly saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him. And my brother Ya’akov also has seen him as I have seen him. Wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, Elohim has said, I will confirm my word. Nevertheless, Elohim sends more witnesses and he proves all his words. Behold, my soul delights in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Mashiach, for, for this end has the Torah of Moshe104 been given.105 And all things which have been given of Elohim from the beginning of the world unto man are the typifying of him. And also my soul delights in the covenants of yhwh which he has made to our fathers; yes, my soul delights in his grace, and his justice, and power, and mercy, in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.106 And my soul delights in proving unto my people that, except Mashiach should come, all men must perish. For if there be no Mashiach, there be no Elohim; and if there be no Elohim, we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is an Elohim, and he is Mashiach, and he comes107 in the fulness of his own time.
  3. And now I write some of the words of Yesha’yahu, that whoever of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and you may compare them unto you and unto all men.

    4. Yesha’yahu 2 from the Plates of Brass

    The word that Yesha’yahu the son of Amotz, saw concerning Y’hudah and Yerushalayim.

  4. And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of yhwh’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all the Goyim shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of yhwh, to the house of the Elohim of Ya’akov, and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths. For out of Tziyon shall go forth the Torah, and the word of yhwh from Yerushalayim. And he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
  5. O house of Ya’akov, come you and let us walk in the light of yhwh, yes, come, for you have all gone astray, everyone to his wicked ways. Therefore, O yhwh, you have abandoned your people, the house of Ya’akov, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto soothsayers like the P’lishtim, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man bows not down, and the great man humbles himself not; therefore, forgive him not.
  6. O you wicked ones, enter into the rock and hide you in the dust, for the fear of yhwh and the glory of his majesty shall smite you. And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the arrogance of men shall be bowed down, and yhwh alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of yhwh Tzva’ot soon comes upon all nations, yes, upon everyone; yes, upon the proud and lofty, and upon everyone who is lifted up; and he shall be brought low. Yes, and the day of yhwh shall come upon all the cedars of L’vanon, for they are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the pleasant pictures.108 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be made low, and yhwh alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth, for the fear of yhwh shall come upon them and the glory of his majesty shall smite them when he arises to shake terribly the earth.109 In that day, a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which he has made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged rocks; for the fear of yhwh shall come upon them and the majesty of his glory shall smite them when he arises to shake terribly the earth. Cease you from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for how is he to be accounted of?

    7. Yesha’yahu 3 from the Plates of Brass

  7. For behold, the Adon yhwh Tzva’ot does take away from Yerushalayim and from Y’hudah the stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the skillful artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children unto them to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another and everyone by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, and shall say, You have clothing, be you our ruler and let not this ruin come under your hand — in that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer, for in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; make me not a ruler of the people. For Yerushalayim is ruined and Y’hudah is fallen because their tongues and their doings have been against yhwh, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The show of their countenance does witness against them, and does declare their sin to be even as Sodom, and they cannot hide it. Woe unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say unto the righteous that it is well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, for they shall perish, for the reward of their hands shall be upon them.
  8. And my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. yhwh stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people. yhwh will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof; for you have eaten up the vineyard and the spoil of the poor in your houses. What mean you? You beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor, says Adonai yhwh Tzva’ot. Moreover, yhwh says, Because the daughters of Tziyon are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet, therefore yhwh110 will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Tziyon, and yhwh will uncover their secret parts. In that day, yhwh111 will take away the bravery of tinkling ornaments, and cauls, and round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of their legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and hoods, and the veils. And it shall all come to pass, instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle, a tear; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be desolate and shall sit upon the ground.

    9. Yesha’yahu 4 from the Plates of Brass

  9. And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach.
  10. In that day shall the Branch of yhwh be beautiful and glorious, the fruit of the earth excellent and becoming to them that are escaped of Isra’el. And it shall come to pass, them that are left in Tziyon and remain in Yerushalayim shall be called holy, everyone that is written among the living in Yerushalayim when yhwh112 shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Tziyon, and shall have purged the blood of Yerushalayim from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And yhwh will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Tziyon, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all, the glory of Tziyon shall be a defense. And there shall be a sukkah for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and a covert from storm and from rain.

    11. Yesha’yahu 5 from the Plates of Brass

  11. And then will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard: My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now O inhabitants of Yerushalayim and men of Y’hudah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trampled down; and I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of yhwh Tzva’ot is the house of Isra’el, and the men of Y’hudah his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, and behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry.
  12. Woe unto them that join house to house till there can be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. In my ears says yhwh Tzva’ot, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, and great and fair cities without inhabitant. Yes, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.
  13. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, and wine inflame them. And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of yhwh, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore, my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore, She’ol has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices shall descend into it. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled; but yhwh Tzva’ot shall be exalted in judgment, and the El HaKodesh shall be sanctified in righteousness. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
  14. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart rope, that say, Let him make speed; hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of HaKodesh of Isra’el draw near and come, that we may know it.
  15. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
  16. Woe unto the wise113 in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.
  17. Woe unto the mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff, their root shall be rottenness and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have cast away the Torah of yhwh Tzva’ot, and despised the word of HaKodesh of Isra’el. Therefore is the anger of yhwh kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them and has smitten them. And the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand stretched out still.
  18. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth. And behold, they shall come with speed, swiftly; none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken; whose arrows shall be sharp, and all their bows bent, and their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind, their roaring like a lion. They shall roar like young lions; yes, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry away safe, and none shall deliver. And in that day, they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if they look unto the land, behold, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.