2 Nephi 20
People in this chapter
This is the last of the chapters in which Isaiah's refrain sounds, his hand is stretched out still. It begins at home, with Judah's own rulers writing laws that rob widows and orphans. Then it turns to the superpower of the day. Assyria was the Lord's tool, the rod of mine anger, used to discipline a proud people. But Assyria thought it was acting on its own strength, and Isaiah asks a question that cuts through every age's pride: Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
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2 Nephi 20:1-4Wo unto Them That Decree Unrighteous Decrees
1Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; 2To turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! 3And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? 4Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
This woe is against leaders who write unjust laws so they can rob the poor, widows, and orphans. Injustice made legal is still injustice.
Isaiah asks the rich: when judgment comes, where will you run, and where will you leave your wealth? The refrain sounds for the last time.
2 Nephi 20:5-19Shall the Ax Boast Itself?
5O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is their indignation. 6I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
The Lord calls Assyria the rod of mine anger, a tool to discipline His hypocritical people. But Assyria has its own plan: to destroy as many nations as it can.
8For he saith: Are not my princes altogether kings? 9Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? 10As my hand hath founded the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and to her idols?
12Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13For he saith: By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things; for I am prudent; and I have moved the borders of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man; 14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood!
The king says, By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things. The Lord answers: can an ax brag that it chopped the tree by itself?
16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, send among his fat ones, leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and shall burn and shall devour his thorns and his briers in one day; 18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. 19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
The Lord, the light of Israel and his Holy One, becomes a fire that burns through Assyria's proud forest until a child could count the trees left.
2 Nephi 20:20-27The Remnant Shall Return
20And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21The remnant shall return, yea, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a consumption, even determined in all the land.
Israel may be as many as the sand of the sea, but only a remnant returns. Paul quotes this verse. Gathering happens one heart at a time.
24Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Hosts: O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. 25For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. 26And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as his rod was upon the sea so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. 27And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
Be not afraid of the Assyrian. The trouble will last only a very little while. The Lord who freed Israel from Midian and from Egypt will free them again.
2 Nephi 20:28-34He Shall Shake His Hand against the Mount of Zion
28He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages. 29They are gone over the passage; they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramath is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. 30Lift up the voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. 31Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. 32As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down; and the haughty shall be humbled. 34And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
At the last moment the Lord cuts down the proud army like a forest. The next chapter begins with new growth from the stem of Jesse, which the Lord has revealed is Christ (D&C 113:1-2).
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?Includes the Assyrian king's boast in verses 13-15 among the Isaiah passages on pride that Nephi quotes and later applies to the last days.
- AssyriaBackground on the empire that conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and threatened Jerusalem, the rod of this chapter.
- What Vision Guides Nephi’s Choice of Isaiah Chapters?Argues that Nephi chose Isaiah passages that follow the outline of his own vision, including the scattering and return of Israel that the remnant prophecy of verses 20-22 describes.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Wo unto Them That Decree Unrighteous Decrees
- James 1:27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.
- Mosiah 4:16Ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor.
- Proverbs 31:9Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
- 2 Nephi 15:25For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.Where the refrain first appears.
Shall the Ax Boast Itself?
- 2 Kings 19:35The angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand.
- Deuteronomy 8:17-18And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God.
- Mosiah 2:21If ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
- 1 Corinthians 1:31He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
- Alma 26:12I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God.
The Remnant Shall Return
- 2 Nephi 19:6His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God.
- Romans 9:27Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
- 2 Nephi 10:7When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored.
- D&C 121:7My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment.
- Matthew 11:29-30Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
He Shall Shake His Hand against the Mount of Zion
- 2 Nephi 21:1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
- Isaiah 37:36Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians.
- Jeremiah 1:1The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth.
- 2 Nephi 12:12Upon the proud and lofty, and upon every one who is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.