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Annotations |
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Chapter 12
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This chapter is from Isaiah 2. Considering how hard it
would be to transcribe an entire chapter from Isaiah onto metal plates.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for the author to reference the writings from
Isaiah and perhaps provide some commentary?
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1 The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem:
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2 And 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.
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3 And 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.
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4 And 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.
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5 O 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.
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6 Therefore, 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.
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7 Their 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.
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8 Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work
of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
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9 And the mean man boweth not down, and the great
man humbleth himself not, therefore, forgive him not.
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Thoughts below are from piotrkaplanstwo at exMormon Reddit.
The verse departs from the KJV Isaiah which doesn’t include the word “not”:
“And the mean man boweth down, and the great man
humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.”
Joseph Smith thought he was very clever adding in those “not”s to clarify the
meaning of the verse. I used this as an example of his prophetic prowess.
Except—If you read the verse in context, what it is saying is that these
people are bowing themselves and humbling themselves TO IDOLS, so they should
not be forgiven. The NIV text plus the preceding verse make this more clear:
- Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
- So people will be brought low and everyone humbled—do not forgive them.
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10 O 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.
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11 And 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.
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12 For 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.
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13 Yea, 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;
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14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the
hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people;
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15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall;
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16 And upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the
ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
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17 And 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.
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18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
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19 And 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.
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20 In 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;
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21 To 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.
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22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for
wherein is he to be accounted of?
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