Jacob 5:23
1830 Edition
And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard sayeth unto his servant, Look hither: behold, I have planted another branch of the tree also; and thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the first, But, behold the tree: I have nourished it this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up, against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self.
Changes
Simple English
The Lord said to his servant: 'Look here. I planted another branch too. You know this spot was even worse than the first. But look at the tree. I have taken care of it for a long time. It has made much fruit. Gather it. Save it for later so I can keep it for myself.'
Paraphrase
The Lord of the vineyard continued, 'Look over here. I planted another branch of the tree. You know this spot was even worse than the first. But look at the tree—I’ve nourished it all this time, and it’s produced abundant fruit. Go ahead and harvest it. Store it up for the season so I can preserve it.'
Notes
In Jacob chapter 5 and 6, an allegory of the tame and wild olive trees is attributed to an ancient prophet named Zenos, who supposedly lived before Lehi’s journey to the New World. The allegory, however, closely mirrors material from multiple biblical sources: Apostle Paul’s discussion of olive trees in Romans 11:17–24, Jesus’ parable of the unfruitful fig tree in Luke 13:6–9, and imagery from Isaiah 5:1–7 concerning a vineyard. In the Book of Mormon, these sources are expanded into an allegory spanning over six pages. As Jerald and Sandra Tanner note, “It is probably the most repetitious part of the Book of Mormon. It gives the impression that the author is deliberately trying to use up as much space as possible. It is very hard to resist the idea that it is merely filler material." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 165.
Similarly, Wesley P. Walters observes, “For a grand finale of his work, however, he returned to this olive tree illustration [given by Apostle Paul] and worked it into a mind-boggling allegory, combining it with Jesus' parable about the unfruitful fig tree (Lk. 13:6–8) and working in the words from Isaiah 5:1–5 about God's disappointment with his grape vineyard. The result is a staggering conglomeration that would perplex a horticulturalist and bewilder an exegete” -Wesley P. Walters, "The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon," (Master's thesis, St. Louis: Covenant Theological Seminary, April 1981), pp. 152-153.