BOM 2 Nephi 33

Anybody who writes very much — whether we’re talking about published books or plays, or letters or emails, or journal entries — knows that it’s very difficult to express all that one wishes to convey by means of mere letters on a page or a screen, and understands how inadequate mere words are to capture the fullness of a powerful feeling or experience.

In a letter of 27 November 1832 to William W. Phelps, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote, “Oh Lord God, deliver us from this prison, almost as it were, of paper, pen and ink, and of a crooked, broken, scattered and imperfect language.”  He was, as it happens, writing very well in that passage, but he still felt constrained, even exasperated, knowing that it was inadequate.

In the first verse of today’s reading, 2 Nephi 33, the prophet Nephi, whose ministry and life are coming to an end, expresses that frustration briefly.  Nonetheless, he leaves us with a remarkably powerful testimony, a solemn farewell much like Moroni’s at the end of the Book of Mormon itself, which I will simply quote:

And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness. . . .

And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come.

And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.  (2 Nephi 33:10-11, 13-14)