2 Nephi 26:15-16

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 26:15-16

15 After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.

16 For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Quotes for Discussion

Low Out of the Dust

These verses could refer to the nations of Judah and Israel being brought low, or destroyed. The ancient covenant people would then speak “low out of the dust” in the sense that they would speak out of the depths of their humbled condition.

A more probable interpretation of these verses would be their application to the destruction of the ancient Nephite civilization. This is obviously the interpretation Nephi had in mind. This people, because of iniquity and unbelief, were to be “brought down low in the dust, even that they are not.” Yet, even though destroyed as a people without posterity, their words “shall speak…out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust.”…

The last survivor of that ancient Nephite society was a prophet, scribe, and warrior named Moroni. He was charged with safeguarding those sacred writings. He discharged that duty by concluding the record and safely burying it in a protected place to which he was undoubtedly led. Over fourteen hundred years later, then a resurrected being, he was divinely directed to deliver the plates “out of the ground” to the young Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph, in turn, was called to translate the sacred record into what is now known to millions throughout the earth as the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. (See JS-H 1:27-54, 59-60.)

Because Nephi is expounding on Isaiah, rather than simply quoting, his words cast a great deal of light on this passage.

Hoyt W. Brewster, Jr., Isaiah Plain and Simple [salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 152-53

Never was a prophecy more truly fulfilled than this, in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith took that sacred history “out of the ground.” It is the voice of the ancient prophets of America speaking “out of the ground”; their speech is “low out of the dust”; it speaks in a most familiar manner of the doings of bygone ages; it is the voice of those who slumber in the dust. It is the voice of prophets speaking from the dead, crying repentance in the ears of the living. In what manner could a nation, after they were brought down and destroyed, “speak out of the ground?” Could their dead bodies or their dust, or their ashes speak? Verily, no: they can only speak by their writings or their books that they wrote while living. Their voice, speech or words, can only “speak out of the ground,” or “whisper out of the dust” by their books or writings being discovered.

Orson Pratt, Orson Pratt’s Works: The Light of Understanding [salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1945] 271

The Lord designed from the beginning to bring the Book of Mormon forth from the ground as a voice from the dust, as truth springing out of the earth. The symbolism and imagery in this are beautiful. As revelation pours down from above to water the earth, so the gospel plant grows out of the earth to bear witness that the heavenly rains contain the life-giving power. Heaven and earth join hands in testifying of the truths of salvation. Their combined voices are the voice of restoration, the voice of glory and honor and eternal life, the voice from heaven, and the voice out of the earth.

Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah [salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 150

Familiar Spirit

Elder LeGrand Richards called our attention to a minister of another religion who said that the Book of Mormon read with the same sweet feeling as the New Testament (see CR, Apr. 1976, 124). In other words, the message of the Book of Mormon sounds familiar to those who have received the message of the Bible, the gospel, or the Spirit of God. On the other hand, “familiar spirits” in Old Testament times referred to a form of spiritualism wherein spirits from the dead were called back out of the ground through witchcraft or enchantment (see 1 Sam. 28; Isa. 8:19-20). Some have used this meaning to disclaim the Book of Mormon. However, a careful reading of Isaiah shows that the power of God would be given to these people to “whisper…even as it were out of the ground.”

Monte S. Nyman, Great Are the Words of Isaiah [salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980], 107-108