2 Nevertheless, they call themselves of the holy city, but they do not stay themselves upon the God of Israel, who is the Lord of Hosts; yea, the Lord of Hosts is his name.
This verse is really the opposite as what is rendered in the
King James Version of the Bible. In Isaiah 48:2 of the King James Version it
says, “For they call themselves if the holy city, and stay themselves upon the
God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is his name.” Two big word or thought changes
are the first word, “for” changed to “nevertheless,” and the inclusion of the
word, “not” in the Nephi version. So the way the King James Version is worded,
this is merely a statement of the Jews’ claims, of how they swear by the name
of the Lord and make mention of him, as stated in verse one. The Nephi version
says that regardless of what the Jews claim in verse one, they do not rely on the Lord. So they say they are the Lord’s people, but
really they are not. They reject the prophets, and they have broken their
covenants with the Lord. And yet they still claim to be the Lord’s people.
Another word for that kind of behavior is hypocrisy, and was among the sins
most strongly condemned by the Lord in His mortal ministry. So in different,
more modern language, I might render the verse like this: “In spite of the fact
that they do not swear by the name of the Lord in truth or righteousness (verse
1), they claim to be holy and God’s covenant people. But hypocritically, they
do not rely on the Lord of Hosts, as His covenant people would do.”
It is sobering to recall that this is included in the Book of
Mormon for our benefit here in the latter days. Those of us in the Church need
to periodically stop and evaluate whether we are individually like those Jews
described by Isaiah in these verses. Do I claim to be one of the Lord’s people,
but then reject the prophets and break my covenants? Sobering indeed.
