2 Nephi 12
People in this chapter
Here Nephi stops writing his own words and starts copying Isaiah, and he keeps copying for thirteen chapters. Many readers slow down or skip ahead. Nephi expected that. He told us in the previous chapter why he does it anyway: Isaiah verily saw my Redeemer, and his words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Then he gave the key for reading them: ye may liken them unto you and unto all men (2 Nephi 11:2, 8).
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
2 Nephi 12:1-5The Mountain of the Lord's House
1The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
Isaiah saw this word. It came to him as a vision. About a third of Isaiah's book appears in the Book of Mormon, more than any other Old Testament prophet.
2And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
In ancient Israel, mountains were where people met God. Isaiah sees the Lord's house on the highest mountain, with all nations coming to it. Latter-day Saints see this fulfilled in temples.
4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks—nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
When the Lord judges the nations, they turn weapons into farm tools. Lasting peace grows out of His teaching. It points to His reign when He comes again.
5O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, every one to his wicked ways.
Isaiah turns the vision into an invitation: let us walk in the light of the Lord. The Book of Mormon adds a line the Bible lacks: for ye have all gone astray. The invitation is for everyone, because everyone needs it.
2 Nephi 12:6-11Their Land Is Also Full of Idols
6Therefore, O Lord, thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. 7Their 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. 8Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Judah is full of everything: foreign customs, fortune-tellers, silver, gold, horses, and chariots. Isaiah repeats the word full to show how crowded their lives had become, with no room for the Lord.
The third full is the worst: the land is full of idols, things people made with their own fingers and then bowed to.
9And the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not, therefore, forgive him not.
Here the Book of Mormon says that neither the common man nor the great man will humble himself. That is why Isaiah asks the Lord not to forgive them yet: they have not repented.
10O ye wicked ones, enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for the fear of the Lord and the glory of his majesty shall smite thee. 11And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Those who will not bow now will one day be bowed down. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Humility chosen now is far better than humility forced later.
2 Nephi 12:12-22The Day of the Lord
12For the day of the Lord of Hosts soon cometh upon all nations, yea, upon every one; yea, upon the proud and lofty, and upon every one who is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. 13Yea, and the day of the Lord shall come upon all the cedars of Lebanon, for they are high and lifted up; and upon all the oaks of Bashan; 14And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people; 15And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall; 16And upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 18And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
The day of the Lord comes on everything tall and proud: the tallest trees, mountains, towers, walls, and ships. Whatever people are proud of will be brought low.
19And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them and the glory of his majesty shall smite them, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he hath made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them and the majesty of his glory shall smite them, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
When the Lord comes, people will throw their gold and silver idols to the moles and bats, the creatures of dark holes. What they worshipped turns out to be worthless.
22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?
Isaiah ends with a plain warning: stop trusting in mere mortals. Every human being depends on the breath God lends him.
Research trail
Sources & further study
These references support the historical, linguistic, manuscript, and contextual notes in this chapter. Scripture remains the primary text; external sources are provided so readers can inspect the research directly.
- Has the Prophecy of the Lord's House Established in the Mountains been Fulfilled?Mountains as natural temples in ancient Israel, how Nephi could liken this prophecy to his own temple, and how modern prophets have applied it to latter-day temples.
- All the Ships of the SeaCompares 2 Nephi 12:16 with the King James Bible and the Greek Septuagint, which has a reading close to the Book of Mormon's extra line.
- What Vision Guides Nephi's Choice of Isaiah Chapters?Argues that Nephi chose his Isaiah passages to follow the outline of his own vision in 1 Nephi 11-14.
- How Does Nephi Use Isaiah to Teach Us to Avoid Pride?Pride runs through the Isaiah chapters Nephi quotes, beginning with 2 Nephi 12:11-12, and returns in Nephi's own prophecies.
Where this echoes in Scripture
The Mountain of the Lord's House
- Micah 4:1-3The mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains.The same prophecy in Micah.
- 2 Nephi 5:16I, Nephi, did build a temple… after the manner of the temple of Solomon.The temple Nephi's people had just built.
- D&C 110:7I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.The Lord accepts His house in Kirtland.
- Isaiah 53:6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.Compare the extra line in verse 5.
- Articles of Faith 1:10Christ will reign personally upon the earth.
Their Land Is Also Full of Idols
- Deuteronomy 17:16-17He shall not multiply horses to himself… neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.The law Judah's kings had forgotten.
- Isaiah 2:9The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.The Bible wording of verse 9.
- Alma 32:13-16Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.
- Psalm 115:4-8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
The Day of the Lord
- Revelation 6:15-17Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.John's vision of Isaiah's day of the Lord.
- Helaman 5:12Upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation.The rock to build on, not hide in.
- 2 Nephi 4:34I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh.Nephi's own version of verse 22.
- Mosiah 2:21Lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will.
- D&C 1:19That man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh.