Mosiah 14
People in this chapter
Abinadi has been brought out of prison to be questioned by King Noah's priests. They asked him what Isaiah meant by the beautiful feet of the messenger who brings good tidings (Mosiah 12:20-24). He has answered with the commandments, with a rebuke, and with a testimony that God Himself would come down and be oppressed and afflicted (Mosiah 13:35). Now he answers with Isaiah. Yea, even doth not Isaiah say... (v. 1).
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Mosiah 14:1-3Despised and Rejected of Men
1Yea, even doth not Isaiah say: Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Isaiah asks who will believe the message and recognize the Lord's power. The answer in the verses that follow is surprising: the Lord's arm is revealed in a suffering Servant whom most people reject.
2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
The Messiah grows up quietly, as a tender plant, like a shoot from dry ground. He has no outward beauty that would make people want to follow Him.
He is a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, rejected and looked away from. He knew sorrow from the inside.
Mosiah 14:4-6With His Stripes We Are Healed
4Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
He carried our griefs and sorrows, our pains and sicknesses, and yet we thought He was being punished by God for something He had done.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.
Every one of us has wandered like a lost sheep, each in our own direction. The Lord laid all of it on the Savior.
Mosiah 14:7-9As a Lamb to the Slaughter
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth.
8He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken. 9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no evil, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
He is taken away after an unjust trial and killed, cut off out of the land of the living. Isaiah says why: for the transgressions of my people.
He died among the wicked and was buried in a rich man's tomb, though He had done no evil and spoken no deceit.
Mosiah 14:10-12He Shall See His Seed
10Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him means the Savior's suffering was part of the Father's will and plan. Jesus willingly submitted: not my will, but thine, be done.
11He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
After His suffering, the Savior will look at what it accomplished and be satisfied. By his knowledge He justifies many, because He bears their iniquities.
12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
He poured out His soul to death, was counted among sinners, carried the sins of many, and pleaded for the very people who wronged 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.
- Atonement of Jesus ChristThe Church's overview of the Savior's suffering, death, and resurrection, the events Isaiah 53 describes.
- Lamb of GodScriptures that call Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, including Isaiah 53:7 (v. 7).
- MessiahThe meaning of the title Messiah and the prophecies of His coming.
- IsaiahWho Isaiah was and why the Book of Mormon quotes him so often.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Despised and Rejected of Men
- John 12:37-38That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled... Lord, who hath believed our report?John applies verse 1 to Jesus.
- Mosiah 12:24The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations.The verse just before this chapter in Isaiah.
- Isaiah 11:1There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
- John 1:10-11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
With His Stripes We Are Healed
- Matthew 8:16-17Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.Matthew quotes verse 4.
- Alma 7:11-12He will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
- 1 Peter 2:24-25By whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray.Peter quotes verses 5-6.
- D&C 19:16-19I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.
- Luke 15:4-6Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
As a Lamb to the Slaughter
- Acts 8:32-35He was led as a sheep to the slaughter... Philip... began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
- Mosiah 15:5-6He shall be led, yea, even as Isaiah said, as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.Abinadi applies verse 7 to Christ.
- Matthew 27:12-14He answered him to never a word.
- John 1:29Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
- Matthew 27:57-60A rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph... laid it in his own new tomb."With the rich in his death" (v. 9).
He Shall See His Seed
- Mosiah 15:10-12When his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed... these are his seed.Abinadi's explanation of verse 10.
- Luke 22:37And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.Jesus applies verse 12 to Himself.
- Luke 23:34Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
- Hebrews 7:25Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
- Mosiah 5:7Ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters.