2 Nephi 7
People in this chapter
Jacob has just told the Nephites what an angel showed him: the Holy One of Israel would come in the flesh, and His own people should scourge him and crucify him (2 Nephi 6:9). Then he keeps reading Isaiah, and the next chapter he reads is this one.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
2 Nephi 7:1-3Is My Hand Shortened That It Cannot Redeem?
1Yea, for thus saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever? For thus saith the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement? To whom have I put thee away, or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Yea, to whom have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Israel felt that God had divorced them or sold them off. The Lord asks, where is the bill of divorcement? There isn't one. He never cast them off. They drifted away by their own sins.
2Wherefore, when I came, there was no man; when I called, yea, there was none to answer. O house of Israel, 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 their rivers a wilderness and their fish to stink because the waters are dried up, and they die because of thirst. 3I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
God called, and no one answered. Yet He asks, is my hand shortened? He is the God who dried up the Red Sea. He still has power to save.
2 Nephi 7:4-6I Gave My Back to the Smiter
4The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season unto thee, O house of Israel. When ye are weary he waketh morning by morning. He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned. 5The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
Now the Servant speaks. Every morning the Lord wakes Him to listen, and He does not turn away. He speaks to the weary because He has first listened to God.
6I 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.
2 Nephi 7:7-9I Have Set My Face like a Flint
7For the Lord God 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.
8And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth. 9For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up.
The Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? With God on His side, no accuser can win. Paul used these words for every follower of Christ.
2 Nephi 7:10-11Walk in the Light of Your Fire
10Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? 11Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Some people walk in darkness. Others light their own fires instead of trusting the Lord. Isaiah warns that light we make for ourselves ends in sorrow.
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.
- Jacob's Use of Isaiah in 2 Nephi 6-10Charts how Jacob quotes Isaiah 50-52 in 2 Nephi 7-8 and then echoes and alludes to Isaiah throughout the rest of his sermon.
- Did Jacob Refer to Ancient Israelite Autumn Festivals?Discusses a scholarly proposal that Jacob's sermon, including this Isaiah reading, was given at a covenant-renewal festival, and lists themes from Isaiah 50-51 that fit that setting.
- IsaiahBackground on Isaiah and his writings, which are quoted throughout the Book of Mormon and the New Testament.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Is My Hand Shortened That It Cannot Redeem?
- Isaiah 50:1-3Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away?The King James wording, without the opening question.
- Deuteronomy 24:1Let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand.
- 2 Nephi 10:20Let us remember him… for we are not cast off.Jacob's answer to verse 1, later in the same sermon.
- Isaiah 59:1Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save.
- 3 Nephi 11:14Feel the prints of the nails in my hands… that ye may know that I am the God of Israel.
I Gave My Back to the Smiter
- Matthew 26:67Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands.
- Mark 10:34They shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him.Jesus foretells His own suffering.
- 1 Nephi 19:9They spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness.
- John 10:18No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
- Luke 22:42Not my will, but thine, be done.
I Have Set My Face like a Flint
- Luke 9:51He stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.
- Romans 8:33-34It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.Paul draws on verses 8-9.
- Isaiah 50:8He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?The King James wording.
- Ezekiel 3:8-9As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead.Another prophet made firm by the Lord.
Walk in the Light of Your Fire
- Isaiah 50:10Let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.The King James ending of verse 10.
- John 8:12I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.
- Proverbs 3:5-6Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
- D&C 50:24That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light.