Isaiah 48, as Nephi gives it to us in 1 Nephi 20: a chapter written to covenant people who think they’ve arrived. Verse by verse, with every place the Book of Mormon sharpens it, and the Servant hiding in the middle.
New here? Ken’s lesson tells this chapter’s story at the shallow end →. This is the deep end: the same chapter, slowed down.
The first thing to know: Nephi’s text is sharper
Lay 1 Nephi 20 beside Isaiah 48 and 21 of its 22 verses differ. Only verse 18 matches word for word. Most differences are small. A handful change the meaning, and every one of those is already in the 1830 first printing. (1830)
Here are the ones that matter, in order:
| Verse | King James (Isaiah 48) | Nephi (1 Nephi 20) | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Hear ye this” | “Hearken and hear this” | A double summons |
| 1 | “but not in truth” | “yet they swear not in truth” | The charge sharpened |
| 1 | — | “or out of the waters of baptism“ | Joseph’s 1840 note (LATER) |
| 2 | “and stay themselves upon the God of Israel” | “but they do not stay themselves” | The verdict flips |
| 3 | “I did them suddenly, and they came to pass” | “I did shew them suddenly” | From doing to revealing |
| 4 | “Because I knew…” | “And I did it because I knew…” | The motive, spelled out |
| 7 | “…lest thou shouldest say” | “…they were declared unto thee, lest thou shouldst say” | Even the new things were announced |
| 10 | “I have refined thee, but not with silver“ | “I have refined thee” | The comparison is gone |
| 11 | “for how should my name be polluted?” (a question) | “for I will not suffer my name to be polluted” (a vow) | God guards His name |
| 14 | — | “yea, and he will fulfil his word which he hath declared by them“ | A promise added |
| 15 | “I have called him” | “I have called him to declare“ | The calling has a purpose |
| 16–17 | “…the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me” | “…I have sent him, the Lord thy God… hath done it“ | The voice shifts. Open question (below) |
| 22 | “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” | “And notwithstanding he hath done all this, and greater also, there is no peace…” | A refusal of grace |
Now walk through it.
1 · The address (verses 1–2)
“Hearken and hear this, O house of Jacob…” The Book of Mormon calls them twice. Then it counts four covenant markers: the name (called by the name of Israel), the water (the waters of Judah, to which Joseph’s 1840 note adds the waters of baptism), the oath (swear by the name of the Lord), and the profession (make mention of the God of Israel). Then: “yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness.”
Verse 1 names the target. Verse 2 lands the charge: “they call themselves of the holy city, but they do not stay themselves upon the God of Israel.”
The King James verse 2 contradicts its own verse 1. Nephi’s doesn’t. (TEXT) And note what Nephi’s verse 2 adds at the end: “which is the Lord of hosts; yea, the Lord of hosts is his name.” The name, twice. They carry it. They don’t lean on it.
(Ken’s lesson tells the full story of the baptism note: the mikveh, John the Baptist, D&C 13, and eleven years.)
2 · Why He told you ahead (verses 3–8)
This is the chapter’s argument, and Nephi’s text makes it plainer than the King James.
- “I have declared the former things from the beginning… I did shew them suddenly” (20:3). In the King James, God does things suddenly. In Nephi’s text, He shows them suddenly. It’s about revelation, not just events.
- “And I did it because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass” (20:4). He tells them why He told them: because they were stubborn.
- “I shewed them for fear lest thou shouldst say, Mine idol hath done them” (20:5). He announced it beforehand so no idol could take the credit.
- “I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them” (20:6). Even the new things, Nephi’s text adds, “were declared unto thee“ (20:7).
This is Isaiah’s whole case against idols, and it runs from chapter 41 to here: “Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods” (41:23). Only the true God tells you before it happens.
And it’s the answer to the scholars (OURS). The lesson said Isaiah named Cyrus “more than 150 years before he set the captives free,” and that some scholars “had to come up with a way to explain away” that. Isaiah’s own argument is that naming events beforehand is the proof. Move the naming to after the fact, and you’ve removed the very thing Isaiah offered as evidence. “Lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them.”
3 · He guards His name (verses 9–11)
“For my name sake will I defer mine anger… that I cut thee not off” (20:9). Then: “I have refined thee; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (20:10). Nephi’s text leaves out the King James’s “but not with silver.” The refining stands on its own.
Then the vow:
“For mine own sake, yea, for mine own sake, will I do this; for I will not suffer my name to be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another.” — 1 Nephi 20:11
In the King James it’s a question (“how should my name be polluted?”). In Nephi’s, it’s a vow. (1830)
Follow the name through the block: 1. God calls the stars by name (40:26). 2. He calls Jacob by name (43:1). 3. He calls Cyrus by name (45:4). 4. Babylon steals the name: “I am, and none else beside me” (47:8). 5. Jacob wears the name, without leaning on it (48:1–2). 6. God guards the name: “I will not suffer my name to be polluted” (20:11). 7. And He mourns what was lost: “his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me” (20:19). 8. One chapter later: “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (49:16).
4 · Still His called, and the Servant in the middle (verses 12–16)
Even here, in the indictment chapter: “Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; for I am he; and I am the first, and I am also the last” (20:12). He hasn’t stopped calling them His.
Then the line the lesson pointed you to:
“The Lord hath loved him: yea, and he will fulfil his word which he hath declared by them; and he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall come upon the Chaldeans. Also, saith the Lord: I the Lord, yea, I have spoken, yea, I have called him to declare…” — 1 Nephi 20:14–15
That’s the Servant, without the word Servant. Loved, called, sent, and sent against Babylon. (OURS) The protagonist and the antagonist, in the same verse.
The Servant’s hidden names across Isaiah 40–49
The word servant appears in seven of the ten chapters. Under his other names he’s in nine. All of these are in King James wording. The map follows Avraham Gileadi’s work, credited, in our own words.
| Chapter | Where | The name |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 40:10–11 | “his arm shall rule for him… he shall gather the lambs with his arm” (disputed: many read this arm as the Lord Himself) |
| 41 | 41:2 · 41:25 · 41:27 | “the righteous man from the east” · “one from the north… from the rising of the sun” · “one that bringeth good tidings” |
| 42 | 42:1, 6 | “Behold my servant” · “a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles” |
| 43 | 43:10 | “my servant whom I have chosen” |
| 44–45 | 44:26, 28 · 45:1, 4 | “his servant” · Cyrus, “my shepherd”, “his anointed” |
| 46 | 46:11 | “a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel” |
| 47 | — | Absent. It’s Babylon’s chapter. The villain gets a chapter to himself (OURS) |
| 48 | 48:14–15, 20 | “The Lord hath loved him… I have called him to declare” · “The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob” |
| 49 | 49:2, 3, 5, 6, 7 | Hidden “in the shadow of his hand” · “Thou art my servant” · “a light to the Gentiles” |
Who is he? Isaiah’s answer has more than one fulfillment. Matthew sees part of 42 fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry (Matthew 12:17–21). Isaiah calls Israel “my servant” (49:3). And D&C 113:4 speaks of “a servant in the hands of Christ.” We’re not going to name him. We’re going to help you find him.
Who is speaking in 20:16–17? (an open question)
The King James has “the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me” (48:16). Nephi’s text keeps that, but leaves off the King James’s “there am I,” and then adds a line of its own:
“And thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I have sent him, the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way thou shouldst go, hath done it.” — 1 Nephi 20:17
Who is “him”? Who is “sent”? The verse could point to the one “called to declare” two verses earlier, or to the Lord Himself. We’ll leave it open. Read it slowly, and see what you see.
5 · The road out (verses 17–22)
- The lesson’s line: “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river” (20:18). The fix isn’t try harder. It’s lean.
- The name, mourned: “his name should not have been cut off” (20:19).
- The command, using the code: “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans” (20:20). And it ends, “The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.”
- The new road, again: “he caused the waters to flow out of the rock” (20:21). That’s the new thing of 43:19 carried into this chapter: water where there isn’t any.
And then the last line. In the King James it’s a sentence: “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” In Nephi’s text it’s something sadder:
“And notwithstanding he hath done all this, and greater also, there is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” — 1 Nephi 20:22
He did all this, and greater. (1830) (OURS) No peace isn’t a penalty here. It’s a gift that was offered and turned down.
This week
- Read 1 Nephi 20:1–2 beside Isaiah 48:1–2. Count the four markers. Find the word that flips.
- Read 1 Nephi 20:11. It’s a vow. Whose name is He guarding?
- Read 1 Nephi 20:14–15. Find the Servant without the word.
Then the question this chapter asks: Where am I carrying His name without leaning on Him?
THE GREATER PORTION · “to him is given the greater portion of the word” (Alma 12:10). Next in the deep end: 1 Nephi 21 / Isaiah 49, the chapter for the forgotten.
The map of the Servant’s names follows Avraham Gileadi’s work, credited with thanks. The readings marked as ours are mine.
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