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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 15
The Jews shall suffer death and the sword and famine and
captivity—They shall be removed into all the kingdom of the
earth—Jerusalem shall be destoryed.
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1 Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
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3 And I will appoint over them four
akinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to
tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to
bdevour and destroy.
4 And I will cause them to be removed into all
kingdoms of the earth, because of aManasseh the son of
Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
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6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
7 And I will afan them with a fan in
the gates of the land; I will bbereave them of
children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their
ways.
8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
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10 ¶ aWoe is me, my mother,
that thou hast borne me a man of bstrife and a man of
contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have
lent to me on cusury; yet every one of them doth
curse me.
11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
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12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the
steela?
13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I will make thee to pass with thine
enemies into a aland which thou knowest not: for a
fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
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12a Shall iron break the northern iron
and the steel? While there are other mentions of 'steel' in the
Bible, even the breaking of a 'steel bow', perhaps here lies the most logical
statement to aid in the understanding of Nephi's 'Steel Bow' in the Book of
Mormon. The fact that there was such a weapon as a bow made with 'metal'
called 'steel' by the Bible translators is recorded in 2 Samuel 22:35, Job
20:24 and Psalms 18:34. In those verses the extraordinary strength of the
'steel bow' weapon is set forth and the rarity and strength that it must have
take to have 'broken' such a weapon. 'Steel' an alloy of iron strengthened
with the tempering of the metal alloying with carbon is very rare and 'precious'
(1 Nephi 4:9). That there were 'inferior' attempts of strengthening the
iron alloy is alluded to in the fact that Nephi's steel bow was made of 'fine
and precious steel' (1 Nephi 4:9 and 16:18). Because of its rarity, such a
finely and precious weapon as a 'steel bow' was not mass produced such as
were the 'horn' laminated compound bows of the Egyptians. It was a
speciality order weapon, one which would likely have brought a high price for
it. Now even in our time there is varying degrees of types and qualities of
'steel', tempered steel, hardened stell, stainless steel, rust resistant
steel and so forth. Whether the 'first' metal which could bear the name of
'steel' was of great quality in comparison to modern steel types is
questionable, but what is shown here in Jeremiah 15:12 is that there was a
degree of advanced iron alloy, deemed as steel by the translators, which was
above and quality of mere iron and the iron made weapons of Israel and the
'south' could not stand up against such as the iron and the steel weapons
of the north. Just were Nephi might have obtained the unique and precious
'steel bow' of his day one may speculate to have been that international
trading port of Aqaba or Elath/Ezion-Geber, three days journey from their
encampment in the valley of Lemuel. Just were upon the 'steel' scale of
today Nephi's fine and precious steel laminated within his bow would have
fallen is not known, a step above 'iron' for sure as this verse presents.
And for Joseph Smith to have used the same precise translation refering to
that particular metal as 'steel' as did the King James translators is quite
remarkable in itself. And when set into the world of the King James Bible,
it is the most correct translation which could have been given to convey the
truth of the matter that Nephi's bow was of this 'quality' iron alloy,
which is spoken of by Jeremiah which ordinary iron could not compare.
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15 ¶ O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and
avisit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not
away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have
bsuffered crebuke.
16 Thy words were found, and I did
aeat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing
of mine heart: for I am called by thy bname, O LORD God of
hosts.
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17 I sat not in the assembly of the
amockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand:
for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
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19 ¶ Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou
areturn, then will I bring thee again, and thou
shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile,
thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou
unto them.
20 And I will make thee unto this people a
afenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but
they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to
bsave thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
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