19 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned. 20 Then shall the Lord God say unto him: The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee. 21 Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work. 22 Wherefore, when thou hast read the words which I have commanded thee, and obtained the witnesses which I have promised unto thee, then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men. 23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.
2 Nephi 27:19-23 (Emphasis mine)
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
Isaiah 29:12 (Emphasis mine)
The book is now delivered to one who is not learned and he is asked to read it. His response is that he can’t read it as he is not learned.
David Sloan discusses the events described in these verses.
“The Lord … instructs the unlearned man: ‘The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee’ (2 Nephi 27:20). Nothing in the prophetic account suggests that the unlearned man was asked to read the words before this time. The most straightforward and reasonable interpretation of this passage is that the unlearned man could not or did not read the words before the Lord asked him to.
“A possible interpretation of the prophetic account is that it does not describe a temporal sequence of events, and that the timing of the request that the learned man read has no relationship to the timing of the request that the unlearned man read. However, immediately after the learned man's words that he cannot read the book, the prophetic account records: ‘Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord will deliver again the book and the words to him that is not learned’ (2 Nephi 27:18—19). These words indicate that the second delivery occurs after, and as a result of, the learned man's rejection of the book. Also, at the time of the second delivery, the learned has already ‘rejected’ the words of the book, clearly showing a temporal relationship and sequence for these events.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
Nephi then instructs the translator (Joseph Smith) not to touch any sealed portion of the record. He is told that he would be given the words from the Lord. Richard Williams observes:
“… [S]trictly speaking, Joseph's work was not a translation in the sense we use the term today. He was obviously not reading the plates since the language of the plates was, by its own admission, a dead language. The Book of Mormon describes the ‘translation’ process used by Joseph. In this passage the Lord, speaking to the man who would bring forth the Book of Mormon to the world, says: "thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee" (2 Nephi 27:20). Thus the translation of the plates is really the Lord's own, not Joseph's. “ [2] (Emphasis mine)
24 And again it shall come to pass that the Lord shall say unto him that shall read the words that shall be delivered him:
25 Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth,
and with their lips do honor me,
but have removed their hearts far from me,
and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men—
26 Therefore, I will proceed to do
a marvelous work among this people,
yea, a marvelous work and a wonder,
for the wisdom of their wise
and learned
shall perish,
and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.
2 Nephi 27:24-26 (Emphasis mine)
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:7-9 (Emphasis mine)
Here Nephi(1) begins to quote Isaiah 29:13-24.
Grant Hardy describes Nephi(1)’s efforts to include this chapter from Isaiah into his writings.
“Nephi was the only Book of Mormon author to receive what might be called a classical Hebrew education … So it is not surprising that he remains the most literate, book-learned of the Nephite prophets…
“Nephi's technique of prophecy through quotation is a striking feature of his writing, yet there are two chapters where his usage of earlier scripture is even more precisely organized. Rather than simply working Isaiah's words and phrases into his own discourse (impressive as that may be), in 2 Nephi 26 and 27 he quotes nearly all of Isaiah 29, a phrase here and a phrase there, but in order, as he provides a new framework that particularizes that earlier prophecy and explains how it was to be fulfilled in latter days when Martin Harris took the page of reformed Egyptian to Charles Anthon in 1828. We sometimes speak of ‘reading between the lines,’ but here Nephi is ‘writing between the lines…’
“In order to pull this off, Nephi would have to have known Isaiah literally forward and backward, or perhaps he was working with a copy of Isaiah 29 in front of him, reading and interpolating as he went along (this would be much easier to do with pen and parchment than by reading aloud).” [3] (Emphasis mine)
He quotes Isaiah as explaining that, at a time when “people draw near unto me … with their lips … but have removed their hearts far from me,” the Lord will do a “marvelous work and a wonder” among the people. The wisdom of the wise and learned will perish.
[1] The Anthon Transcripts and the Translation of the Book of Mormon: Studying It Out in the Mind of Joseph Smith, David E. Sloan, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 4, 2012.
[2] The Book of Mormon as Automatic Writing: Beware theVirtus Dormitiva, Richard N. Williams, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 4, 2012.
[3] 2 Nephi 26 and 27 as Midrash, Grant R. Hardy, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 4, 2012.
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