Skip, skim, read, study, search, feast, treasure: what each one looks like, why the first one isn’t a failure, and the one step to the next
Road to Esaias · Float · Builds on the CFM-01 lesson, “He Shall Direct Thy Paths“
Here are seven words. One of them is you.
SKIP · SKIM · READ · STUDY · SEARCH · FEAST · TREASURE
Find yourself on that list. Nobody is watching. And don’t pick the one you wish were true. Pick the one that describes what you actually did the last time you opened Isaiah.
The goal isn’t to jump to the end of the list. It’s to move one word to the right.
1. Skip
You hit 2 Nephi 12, your eyes go to the floor, somebody says the words are beautiful, and you turn the page to something you can talk about.
I’ve done it. For years.
Skip is level one, not a failure. If skipping Isaiah is what keeps you reading the Book of Mormon instead of quitting it, skip. Skip the chapter, not the covenant.
One word to the right: next time, don’t skip the chapter. Skim it.
2. Skim
You read the chapter heading. You notice who’s talking and who he’s talking to. You let your eye run down the page looking for names you know: Egypt, Assyria, Zion, Jerusalem.
Skimming is how you get a map before you try to dig. Most of what makes Isaiah feel random is not knowing where you are.
One word to the right: pick one chapter and read every verse of it.
3. Read
You start at verse 1 and read to the end. It’s slow, and much of it won’t make sense yet. That’s normal.
Read it once and you’ve passed through it. Read it five times and you start seeing things. Do it with a pencil, and mark what you notice and what confuses you.
One word to the right: stop at one verse that confuses you, and stay there.
4. Study
Now you slow down. You read the footnotes and follow the cross-references. You lay the Book of Mormon’s version beside the Bible’s and see where they differ. You look up a word. You ask who wrote what, when, and to whom.
Study is where most good gospel learning lives, and it’s a fine place to be. But there’s a difference between studying a book and searching it.
One word to the right: take your question to the Lord, not just to the footnotes.
5. Search
This is the word the Savior used. “A commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah” (3 Nephi 23:1).
When Isaiah himself tells people to search, he uses the Hebrew word darash: “Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read” (Isaiah 34:16). Darash is a traveling word. It means going to a place to ask. You can study sitting still. You can’t search sitting still.
And diligently means you keep going until you arrive. (I wrote about that word in What Does “Diligently” Mean in 3 Nephi 23:1?)
Searching tends to leave you hungry. That’s how you know it’s working.
One word to the right: stop counting chapters. Stay with the Lord in one until you’re full.
6. Feast
“Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3).
Searching leaves you hungry. Feasting is when you’re filled. Alma promised it: “ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst” (Alma 32:42).
You can’t feast on a subject. You feast on a Person. At this depth Isaiah stops being a puzzle and becomes the voice of Christ, pointing you on to the Father.
One word to the right: keep what you’ve been given.
7. Treasure
To treasure something is to take what’s worth the most and do whatever it takes to protect it, so nothing can take it from you. It’s testimony. It’s the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46).
The Savior tied it to the last days: “And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” (Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:37).
Treasure is the oil in the lamps. When the foolish virgins asked to borrow some, the wise ones said no and sent them to buy their own (Matthew 25:8–9). They weren’t being stingy. Oil can’t be lent. Neither can a treasured word.
Where I am
I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t mastered feast or treasure. I’ve paid my dues through the first five, the long way. So I’m on this list with you, not at the end of it.
That’s the point of the list. It isn’t a grade, and it isn’t a way to sort other people. It’s a mirror. Find yourself on it, then take one step.
Skip to skim. Skim to read. Read to study. One word. That’s the whole assignment.
Ken Krogue is a co-founder of The Covenant Project and has been deeply searching Isaiah for more than ten years. He writes with two AI research partners, Orson (Claude) and Nathan (ChatGPT), and approves every word.
