# Jacob 5

*Paraphrase*

### The Allegory of the Olive Tree

Do you remember the prophet Zenos? Let me remind you what he said to Israel:

“Listen closely, people of Israel, to what I, a prophet of the Lord, have to say.

### The Dying Tree and the First Grafting

The Lord says: I’ll compare you, Israel, to an olive tree—a cultivated one that someone planted in his vineyard. It grew tall, aged, and started to die.

When the master of the vineyard saw his olive tree beginning to decay, he said, ‘I’ll prune it, dig around it, and give it nutrients. Maybe it will sprout new young branches and survive.’ So he pruned it, dug around it, and nourished it, just as he’d said. After many days, it began putting out a few small, tender branches. But the main top of the tree was still dying.

When the master saw this, he told his servant, ‘It breaks my heart to lose this tree. Go find branches from a wild olive tree and bring them here. We’ll cut off these dying main branches and burn them.’

The Lord of the vineyard said, ‘I’ll take many of these young tender branches and graft them wherever I want. Even if the root of this tree dies, I can still preserve its fruit for myself. So I’ll take these young branches and graft them wherever I choose.’

“Take branches from the wild olive tree and graft them in where the old ones were. The branches I’ve removed—throw them in the fire and burn them so they don’t clutter up my vineyard.”

The servant did exactly what the Lord of the vineyard told him. He grafted in the wild olive branches.

Then the Lord had the tree dug around, pruned, and nourished. He told his servant, ‘It breaks my heart to lose this tree. I’ve done all this hoping to preserve the roots so they won’t die—to keep them for myself.’

“Now go. Watch over the tree and nourish it just as I’ve told you.”

“I’ll place these young branches in the far corners of my vineyard, wherever I want—it doesn’t matter where. I’m doing this to preserve the natural branches of the tree and to store up fruit for the coming season. It breaks my heart to lose this tree and its fruit.”

So the Lord of the vineyard went and hid the natural branches of the cultivated olive tree in the far corners of the vineyard—some in one place, some in another, wherever he wanted.

### The First Visit: Good Fruit Everywhere

A long time passed. Then the Lord of the vineyard said to his servant, ‘Come on, let’s go down to the vineyard and get to work.’

The Lord of the vineyard and his servant went down to work. The servant said to his master, ‘Look here—look at the tree!’

The Lord of the vineyard looked at the tree where he’d grafted the wild olive branches. It had grown strong and was bearing fruit. He saw that it was good—the fruit looked just like natural fruit.

He said to the servant, ‘Look—the wild branches have drawn moisture from the root, and the root has given them great strength. Because of the root’s strength, these wild branches are producing cultivated fruit. If we hadn’t grafted them in, the tree would’ve died. Now I’ll be able to store up plenty of fruit from this tree for the coming season.’

Then the Lord of the vineyard said to his servant, ‘Come, let’s go to the far corners of the vineyard and see if the natural branches have also produced good fruit that I can store up for the season.’

They went to where the master had hidden the natural branches. He said to the servant, ‘Look at these.’ He saw that the first one had produced abundant fruit—and it was good. He told the servant, ‘Harvest this fruit and store it up for the season. I’ll preserve it for myself. I’ve nourished this branch for so long, and look—it’s given me abundant fruit.’

The servant said to his master, ‘Why did you plant this tree here? This was the worst spot in your whole vineyard.’

The Lord of the vineyard replied, ‘Don’t question me. I knew it was poor ground. That’s why I told you I’ve nourished it all this time. And look—it’s produced abundant fruit.’

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.’

Again the Lord of the vineyard said to his servant, ‘Look here at another branch I planted. I’ve nourished it too, and it’s produced fruit.’

He said to the servant, ‘Look here at the last one. I planted this in good ground—the best spot in my whole vineyard. I’ve nourished it just as long as the others. But only part of the tree has produced cultivated fruit. The other part has produced wild fruit, even though I’ve cared for it like the rest.’

The Lord of the vineyard said to the servant, ‘Cut off the branches that haven’t produced good fruit and throw them in the fire.’

But the servant said, ‘Let’s prune it, dig around it, and nourish it a little longer. Maybe it will produce good fruit you can harvest.’

So the Lord of the vineyard and his servant nourished all the fruit in the vineyard.

### The Second Visit: All Has Gone Bad

Another long period passed. Then the Lord of the vineyard said to his servant, ‘Come, let’s go back to the vineyard and work again. Time is running short—the end is coming soon. I need to store up fruit for the season.’

The Lord of the vineyard and his servant went down to the vineyard. They came to the tree whose natural branches had been removed and replaced with wild branches. The tree was weighed down with all kinds of fruit.

The Lord of the vineyard tasted every kind of fruit. He said, ‘We’ve nourished this tree for so long. I’ve stored up much fruit for the season.’

“But this time it’s produced a lot of fruit, and none of it is good. It’s all bad fruit—every kind. Despite all our work, it’s worthless. It breaks my heart to lose this tree.”

The Lord of the vineyard asked his servant, ‘What can we do to this tree so I can get good fruit from it again?’

The servant replied, ‘Because you grafted in the wild olive branches, they’ve nourished the roots and kept them alive—they haven’t died. So the roots are still good.’

The Lord of the vineyard said, ‘The tree does me no good. The roots do me no good as long as it keeps producing bad fruit.’

“Still, I know the roots are good. I’ve preserved them for my own purposes. And because of their strength, they’ve produced good fruit from the wild branches—until now.”

“But the wild branches have grown and overtaken the roots. Because they’ve overwhelmed the roots, the tree now produces bad fruit. It’s producing so much bad fruit that it’s starting to die. Soon it will be ripe for the fire—unless we do something to save it.”

The Lord of the vineyard said to his servant, ‘Let’s go to the far corners of the vineyard and see if the natural branches have also produced bad fruit.’

They went to the far corners of the vineyard and saw that the fruit from the natural branches had also become corrupt—the first, the second, and the last. They’d all gone bad.

The wild fruit of the last tree had overtaken the part that bore good fruit. That branch had withered and died.

### The Lord’s Heartbreak

The Lord of the vineyard wept. He said to the servant, ‘What more could I have done for my vineyard?’

“I knew that all the fruit of the vineyard had become corrupt except these. And now even these, which once produced good fruit, have also gone bad. All the trees in my vineyard are worthless now—good for nothing but to be cut down and burned.”

“This last tree—the one whose branch withered away—I planted in the best spot, the finest ground in my whole vineyard.”

“You saw me clear away everything that cluttered that spot so I could plant this tree there.”

“You saw that part of it produced good fruit and part produced wild fruit. Because I didn’t remove those wild branches and burn them, they’ve overtaken the good branch and caused it to wither.”

“Despite all the care we’ve taken of my vineyard, the trees have become corrupt and produce no good fruit. I’d hoped to preserve these, to store up their fruit for the season. But they’ve become like wild olive trees. They’re worthless except to be cut down and burned. It breaks my heart to lose them.”

“What more could I have done for my vineyard? Have I held back from nourishing it? No! I’ve nourished it, dug around it, pruned it, and fertilized it. I’ve worked almost constantly, and the end is nearly here. It breaks my heart to have to cut down all these trees and burn them. Who has corrupted my vineyard?”

The servant said to his master, ‘Isn’t it because of the height of your vineyard? Haven’t the branches overtaken the roots, which are good? The branches have overcome the roots because they’ve grown faster than the roots could sustain them. They’ve taken all the strength for themselves. Isn’t this why the trees in your vineyard have become corrupt?’

### One Last Chance

The Lord of the vineyard said, ‘Come, let’s cut down the trees and burn them so they don’t clutter up my vineyard. I’ve done everything I could. What more could I have done?’

But the servant said, ‘Wait a little longer.’

The Lord said, ‘All right. I’ll wait a little longer. It breaks my heart to lose the trees of my vineyard.’

“Let’s take branches from the trees I planted in the far corners of my vineyard and graft them back into the mother tree. We’ll remove the branches with the most bitter fruit and graft the natural branches back in their place.”

“I’ll do this so the tree won’t die—so I can preserve the roots for my own purposes.”

“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.”

So they took branches from the natural tree that had gone wild and grafted them back into the natural trees that had also gone wild.

They also took branches from the natural trees that had gone wild and grafted them back into the mother tree.

The Lord of the vineyard told the servant, ‘Don’t remove all the wild branches from the trees—only the most bitter ones. Then graft the natural branches in as I’ve told you.’

“We’ll nourish the vineyard trees again. We’ll trim the branches. We’ll remove any that are rotten and need to be destroyed, and throw them in the fire.”

“I’m doing this so the roots can draw on their own goodness and gain strength. And with this change of branches, the good may overcome the bad.”

“Because I’ve preserved the natural branches and their roots, and grafted the natural branches back into their mother tree, and preserved the roots of the mother tree—maybe the trees of my vineyard will produce good fruit again. Maybe I’ll find joy in my vineyard’s fruit once more. Maybe I’ll celebrate greatly that I’ve preserved the roots and branches of the first fruit.”

“So go call more servants, and let’s work as hard as we can in the vineyard. We’ll prepare the way for the natural fruit to come back—that natural fruit which is good and more precious than any other.”

“Let’s work with all our strength this one last time. The end is near. This is the last time I’ll prune my vineyard.”

“Graft the branches back in. Start with the last so they can be first, and the first can be last. Dig around all the trees—young and old, first and last—so everything gets nourished one more time.”

“Dig around them, prune them, and fertilize them one more time—the last time. The end is near. If these final grafts grow and produce natural fruit, then make room for them to thrive.”

“As the good branches start to grow, clear away the branches producing bitter fruit—but only in proportion to the strength and size of the good growth. Don’t remove all the bad at once, or the roots might overwhelm the grafts and kill them. I don’t want to lose my trees.”

“It would break my heart to lose these trees. So clear away the bad only as the good grows stronger, keeping the root and branches balanced in strength. Eventually the good will overcome the bad, and the bad can be cut down and burned so it doesn’t clutter my vineyard. That’s how I’ll sweep the bad out of my vineyard.”

“I’ll graft the natural branches back into the natural tree.”

“I’ll graft natural branches back into natural branches. I’ll bring them all together so they produce natural fruit. They’ll become one.”

“The bad will be thrown out—driven from every part of my vineyard. This is the only time I’ll prune my vineyard.”

### The Final Work and the Harvest

The Lord of the vineyard sent his servant, and the servant went and did as commanded. He brought back other servants, though not many.

The Lord of the vineyard said to them, ‘Go work with all your strength in the vineyard. This is the last time I’ll nourish my vineyard. The end is near—the season is coming quickly. If you work with all your strength alongside me, you’ll share in the joy of the fruit I’ll store up when the time comes.’

The servants got to work with all their strength. The Lord of the vineyard worked alongside them, and they followed his commands in everything.

Natural fruit began appearing in the vineyard again. The natural branches started growing and thriving. The wild branches were being removed and thrown away. They kept the roots and branches balanced according to their strength.

They worked hard, following all the Lord of the vineyard’s commands, until all the bad had been thrown out of the vineyard. The Lord had preserved the trees so they became natural fruit again. They became like one body—the fruit was all the same quality. The Lord of the vineyard had preserved for himself the natural fruit, which had been most precious to him from the beginning.

When the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good and his vineyard was no longer corrupt, he called his servants and said, ‘This last time we’ve nourished my vineyard together. You’ve seen that I’ve done what I set out to do—I’ve preserved the natural fruit. It’s good, just like it was in the beginning. You are blessed. Because you’ve worked hard with me in my vineyard and followed my commands, you’ve helped me recover the natural fruit. My vineyard is no longer corrupt. The bad has been thrown out. You’ll share my joy in the fruit of my vineyard.’

“For a long time I’ll store up the fruit of my vineyard for myself, for the season that’s coming quickly. This is the last time I’ve nourished my vineyard, pruned it, dug around it, and fertilized it. I’ll store up fruit for myself for a long time, just as I said.”

“When the time comes that bad fruit appears in my vineyard again, I’ll gather both the good and the bad. The good I’ll preserve for myself. The bad I’ll throw away to its own place. Then will come the season and the end. And my vineyard will be burned with fire.”

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/jacob/5)*
