The Book of Mormon

Jacob 5:54

1830 Edition

And behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I would, are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also, for mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong, that perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard.

Changes

And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I would, are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also, for mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong, that perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard.

Simple English

“The roots of the natural branches I planted everywhere are still alive. To save them for myself, I will take branches from this tree. I will plant them back in those trees. I will plant the branches back in their mother tree. That way I can save the roots for myself. When they are strong enough, maybe they will make good fruit for me. Then I can be happy about my vineyard fruit.”

Paraphrase

“Look—the roots of the natural branches I planted throughout my vineyard are still alive. So I’ll take branches from this tree and graft them back into those. I’ll graft branches from the mother tree back into them to preserve the roots for myself. When they’re strong enough, maybe they’ll produce good fruit, and I can take pride in my vineyard’s fruit again.”