2 Nephi 8

THE SECOND BOOK OF NEPHI

CHAPTER 8

In the last days, the Lord shall comfort Zion and gather Israel—The redeemed shall come to Zion amid great joy—Compare Isaiah 51 and 52:1-2. Between 559 and 545 B.C.

1 aHearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness. Look unto the brock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged.

2 Look unto Abraham, your afather, and unto bSarah, she that bare you; for I called him alone, and blessed him.

3 For the Lord shall acomfort bZion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her cwilderness like dEden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation; for a alaw shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a blight for the people.

5 My righteousness is near; my asalvation is gone forth, and mine arm shall bjudge the people. The cisles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

6 Lift up your eyes to the aheavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall bvanish away like smoke, and the earth shall cwax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law, afear ye not the breproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their crevilings.

8 For the amoth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

9 aAwake, awake! Put on bstrength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days. Art thou not he that hath cut cRahab, and wounded the ddragon?

10 Art thou not he who hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a away for the ransomed to pass over?

11 Therefore, the aredeemed of the Lord shall breturn, and come with csinging unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; and they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and dmourning shall flee away.

12 aI am he; yea, I am he that comforteth you. Behold, who art thou, that thou shouldst be bafraid of man, who shall die, and of the son of man, who shall be made like unto cgrass?

13 And aforgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath bstretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the coppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The acaptive exile hasteneth, that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

15 But I am the Lord thy God, whose awaves roared; the Lord of Hosts is my name.

16 And I have aput my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion: Behold, thou art my bpeople.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the acup of his bfury—thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out—

18 And none to guide her among all the sons she hath brought forth; neither that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons she hath brought up.

19 These two asons are come unto thee, who shall be sorry for thee—thy desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword—and by whom shall I comfort thee?

20 Thy sons have fainted, save these two; they lie at the head of all the streets; as a wild bull in a net, they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.

21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and adrunken, and not with wine:

22 Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord and thy God apleadeth the cause of his people; behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again.

23 But aI will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over—and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over.

24 aAwake, awake, put on thy bstrength, O cZion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall dno more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

25 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the abands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.