The Book of Mormon

Jacob 6:4

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~544–420 BC

1830 Edition

And how merciful is our God unto us: for he remembereth the House of Israel, both roots and branches; and he stretches forth his hands unto them, all the day long: and they are a stiffnecked, and a gainsaying people; but as many as will not harden their hearts, shall be saved in the Kingdom of God.

Influences

Romans 10:21 (KJV)
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

Changes

And how merciful is our God unto us:, for he remembereth the Hhouse of Israel, both roots and branches; and he stretches forth his hands unto them, all the day long:; and they are a stiffnecked, and a gainsaying people; but as many as will not harden their hearts, shall be saved in the Kkingdom of God.

Simple English

Our God is kind to us! He remembers Israel, both the roots and branches. He reaches out his hands to them all day long. They are stubborn and argue with him. But those who don’t make their hearts hard will be saved in God’s kingdom.

Paraphrase

How merciful our God is to us! He remembers Israel—roots and branches alike. All day long he reaches out to them. They’re stubborn and resistant, but everyone who doesn’t harden their heart will be saved in God’s kingdom.

Notes

6:1-13

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.