Jesus Has Other Sheep
I tell you the truth: I have other sheep that are not from this land. They are not from Jerusalem either. They are not from any place around there where I have taught. The people I am talking about have not heard my voice yet. I have never shown myself to them. But the Father told me to go to them. They will hear my voice. They will be counted as my sheep. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. So I will go and show myself to them.
I tell you to write down these words after I leave. My people in Jerusalem have seen me. They have been with me while I taught. If they do not ask the Father in my name to learn about you through the Holy Spirit, and about the other tribes they do not know, then these words you write will be kept. They will be shown to the non-Jewish people. Through the non-Jewish people, the rest of your family who are scattered across the earth because of their unbelief can be brought back. They can learn about me, their Savior. Then I will gather them from all over the earth. Then I will keep the promise the Father made to all the people of Israel.
God Blesses Those Who Believe
God blesses the non-Jewish people because they believe in me. The Holy Spirit tells them about me and the Father. Because they believe in me, the Father says the truth will come to the non-Jewish people in the last days. This is because you, people of Israel, do not believe. The non-Jewish people will learn all these things.
But the Father says trouble will come to the non-Jewish people who do not believe. They came to this land. They scattered my people who are from Israel. My people from Israel were forced out. The non-Jewish people walked on them. The Father was kind to the non-Jewish people. But he judged my people from Israel. I tell you the truth: After all this, I caused my people from Israel to be hit and to have hard times and to be killed. They were forced out. They became hated. People made fun of them and said bad things about them.
Warning to Those Who Reject God
The Father tells me to say this to you: When the non-Jewish people sin against my good news and reject my full message, they will become proud. They will think they are better than all other nations and people on earth. They will be filled with lies and tricks and mean acts. They will be filled with fake goodness and murder and religious tricks and bad sexual acts and secret evil things. If they do all these things and reject my full message, the Father says he will take his full message away from them. Then I will remember my promise to my people, the people of Israel. I will bring my good news to them. I will show you, people of Israel, that the non-Jewish people will not have power over you. I will remember my promise to you, people of Israel. You will learn about the full message of my good news.
But if the non-Jewish people change their ways and come back to me, the Father says they will be counted as part of my people, the people of Israel. I will not let my people from Israel go through them and walk on them, the Father says. But if they will not turn to me and listen to my voice, I will let my people from Israel go through them and walk on them. They will be like salt that has lost its taste. It is not good for anything. It can only be thrown out and walked on by my people from Israel.
God’s Promise to His People
I tell you the truth: The Father told me to give this land to these people as their own.
Isaiah’s Words About Zion
The words of the prophet Isaiah will come true. He said: Your guards will sing out loud. They will sing together. They will see clearly when the Lord brings back Zion. Break out in joy! Sing together, you broken places of Jerusalem! The Lord has comforted his people. He has saved Jerusalem. The Lord has shown his holy power to all the nations. All the people on earth will see that God saves them.
Influences
- 16:4 — John 16:23 (KJV)And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
- 16:4 — Romans 11:25 (KJV)For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
- 16:4 — Mark 6:6 (KJV)And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
- 16:6 — Acts 6:5 (KJV)And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
- 16:9 — John 16:23 (KJV)And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
- 16:11 — 2 Timothy 8:8 (KJV)Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
- 16:12 — 1 Timothy 2:4 (KJV)Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
- 16:13 — Romans 15:27 (KJV)It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.
- 16:15 — Matthew 5:13 (KJV)Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
- 16:15 — Matthew 5:13 (KJV)Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
- 16:17 — Revelation 17:17 (KJV)For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
- 16:18 — Isaiah 52:8 (KJV)Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
- 16:19 — Isaiah 52:9 (KJV)Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
- 16:20 — Isaiah 52:10 (KJV)The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Notes
- 16:8-15
3 Nephi 16:8-15 is a prime example of the circular repetition that pervades the Book of Mormon.
"my people who are of the house of Israel have been cast out... and I have caused my people who are of the house of Israel to be smitten... I will remember my covenant with I have made unto my people, O house of Israel... But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel. And I will not suffer my people who are of the house of Israel, to go among them, and tread them down... But if they will not turn unto me...I will suffer them, yea I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savior... to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel."
This repetitive writing style is found to be consistent across each author of the Book of Mormon. See also, Alma 5:6, 2 Nephi 3:4-21, and Ether 2:17.
Mormon critic 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.
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.
Other examples of verbose sections: 3 Nephi 8:1-3; 3 Nephi 10:37 (compare against Matt. 23:37); 3 Nephi 16:8-10.