The Book of Mormon

2 Nephi 3:5

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~588–570 BC

1830 Edition

wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins, the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the House of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off; nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord, that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light; yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

Influences

John 8:56 (KJV)
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
Hebrews 6:15 (KJV)
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Acts 2:30 (KJV)
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
1 Corinthians 4:5 (KJV)
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Changes

wWherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins, the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the Hhouse of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off;, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord, that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light; —yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

Simple English

So Joseph saw our time. The Lord promised him that from his kids, God would bring a good branch to the House of Israel. This would not be the Messiah, but a branch that would be broken off. But they would still be remembered in the Lord’s promises. The Messiah would be shown to them in the last days. He would come with the Spirit’s power. He would bring them from darkness into light. He would bring them from hidden darkness and being prisoners to freedom.

Paraphrase

That Joseph saw our day. The Lord promised him that from his descendants, God would raise up a righteous branch for the House of Israel—not the Messiah himself, but a branch that would be broken off. Still, the Lord would remember them in his promises, and the Messiah would reveal himself to them in the last days with powerful Spirit, bringing them out of darkness into light, out of deep shadows and captivity into freedom.

Notes

3:4-21

2 Nephi 3:4–21 serves as a clear example of the circular repetition that characterizes much of the Book of Mormon.

The repeated phrase “fruit of my loins” appears in varied forms no fewer than 21 times within this single passage.

As noted above, this pattern of repetition is not isolated but appears consistently across different authors in the Book of Mormon. See also Alma 5:6, Ether 2:17, and 3 Nephi 16:8–15.

M.T. Lamb made the rather axiomatic comment, “The prevailing style of the Book of Mormon is so verbose, so full of inelegant and uncalled-for repetitions, that any ordinary writer can greatly excel it—often reducing its wordy sentences to one-half, and one-third, and even one-fourth their present compass without any sacrifice of thought or force or beauty...” —M.T. Lamb, The Golden Bible; or The Book of Mormon, Is It From God? (New York: Ward and Drummand, 1887), p. 27.

The verbose, lengthy, and repetitive style of the Book of Mormon casts doubt on the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. As Jerald and Sandra note, "Considering the effort needed to make the original gold plates of the Book of Mormon and then to engrave them, one would expect a scribe to be as concise as possible, not wordy. Nephi's brother, Jacob complained: 'I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates' (Jacob 4:1). However, lengthy sentences abound in the Book of Mormon." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 231.

Other examples of verbose sections: 3 Nephi 8:1-3; 3 Nephi 10:37 (compare against Matt. 23:37); 3 Nephi 16:8-10.

B.H. Roberts, president of the LDS First Quorum of the Seventy and assistant church historian made these candid remarks, "... I shall hold that what is here presented [concerning various accounts of Anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon] illustrates sufficiently the matter taken in hand by referring to them, namely that they are all of one breed and brand; so nearly alike that one mind is the author of them, and that a young and undeveloped, but piously inclined mind. The evidence I sorrowfully submit, points to Joseph Smith as their creator. It is difficult to believe that they are the product of history..." -B.H. Roberts, Studies of the Book of Mormon, ed. Brigham H. Madsen (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992), p. 264.