2 Nephi 13
People in this chapter
Nephi copied this hard chapter because he knew what was coming. He had seen in vision that his own people would grow proud and fall (1 Nephi 12:19), and he had already asked his readers to liken Isaiah's words unto you and unto all men (2 Nephi 11:8). Isaiah 3 is a portrait of a covenant people coming apart from the inside, and Nephi wanted his descendants to see it before they lived it.
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2 Nephi 13:1-8The Stay and the Staff
1For behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread, and the whole stay of water— 2The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient; 3The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
A stay and a staff are things you lean on. The Lord warns that He will take away everything Judah leans on: bread, water, soldiers, judges, prophets, and skilled workers.
4And I will give children unto them to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 5And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor; the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. 6When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, and shall say: Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let not this ruin come under thy hand— 7In 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.
With the wise leaders gone, the nation is run by the immature. People turn on each other. A man is begged to lead just because he still owns a coat, and he refuses: I will not be a healer.
8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongues and their doings have been against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
Isaiah gives the reason plainly: their tongues and their doings have been against the Lord. Both words and actions had turned away from Him.
2 Nephi 13:9-15The Show of Their Countenance
9The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and doth declare their sin to be even as Sodom, and they cannot hide it. Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves!
Sin shows. Isaiah says the look on people's faces doth witness against them. The opposite is also true: the Spirit puts light in a person's face.
10Say unto the righteous that it is well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11Wo unto the wicked, for they shall perish; for the reward of their hands shall be upon them! 12And my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths.
In the middle of the judgment, Isaiah stops to comfort the faithful: it is well with them. Whatever happens to the nation, the righteous will eat the fruit of their own doings.
They who lead thee cause thee to err. Bad leaders lead people off the path. That is one reason the Lord gives living prophets we can trust.
13The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 14The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up the vineyard and the spoil of the poor in your houses. 15What mean ye? Ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of Hosts.
The leaders had crushed the poor so hard Isaiah calls it grinding their faces. Nephi later used the same words to warn churches in the last days.
2 Nephi 13:16-26The Daughters of Zion
16Moreover, the Lord saith: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet— 17Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.
The daughters of Zion stands for Jerusalem and its people, pictured as proud women showing off. The sin Isaiah names is pride: necks stretched high and eyes looking for attention.
18In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments, and cauls, and round tires like the moon; 19The chains and the bracelets, and the mufflers; 20The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings; 21The rings, and nose jewels; 22The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping-pins; 23The glasses, and the fine linen, and hoods, and the veils.
Isaiah lists more than twenty pieces of jewelry and clothing. The Lord will take them all away. The long list shows how much of their identity they had piled onto things.
24And it shall come to pass, instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle, a rent; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty. 25Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. 26And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate, and shall sit upon the ground.
Every luxury is reversed: perfume becomes stench, fine hair becomes baldness, beauty becomes burning. The city ends up sitting on the ground in mourning. Isaiah's very next verses promise the Lord will wash Zion clean.
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.
- How Does Nephi Use Isaiah to Teach Us to Avoid Pride?Traces pride as a theme through the Isaiah chapters Nephi quotes, including 2 Nephi 13:16-17, and shows how Nephi's own prophecies pick the theme back up.
- 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.
- Why Does Isaiah Prophesy of the Daughter of Zion?Explains the daughter of Zion as a poetic personification of Jerusalem and the house of Israel, shamed in her pride and later restored and glorified.
Where this echoes in Scripture
The Stay and the Staff
- 2 Kings 24:14He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour… and all the craftsmen and smiths.Isaiah's list, fulfilled when Babylon came.
- Isaiah 3:1-8For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff.The same chapter in the Bible.
- Helaman 4:24-26They had become weak, because of their transgression.The same collapse among the Nephites.
- Moroni 9:18They are without order and without mercy.Mormon describes his people at the end.
The Show of Their Countenance
- Alma 5:14, 19Have ye received his image in your countenances?The countenance can witness of Christ too.
- D&C 45:3-5Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him.The Lord who pleads, in His own words.
- 2 Nephi 26:20That they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor.Nephi likens Isaiah 3:15 to the last days.
- John 5:22The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
- Mosiah 4:16Ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain.King Benjamin's answer to verse 15.
The Daughters of Zion
- Jacob 2:13Ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel.Isaiah's warning, lived by the Nephites.
- Alma 4:6The people of the church began to wax proud… for they began to wear very costly apparel.
- 4 Nephi 1:24Those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel.The first crack in a Zion society.
- Isaiah 61:1-3To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.The Messiah reverses verse 24.
- 2 Nephi 14:4-5When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion.What Isaiah promises next.