![\"Barsch,](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/08\/Barsch_The_ascension_of_isaiah.jpg\")
<\/a>(I have been unable to find copyright information regarding this image of a work by a prominent contemporary LDS artist whom I admire, so, if anybody who holds copyright on it wishes to contact me, that would please me and put my mind at ease.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A new article went up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>, representing the Foundation\u2019s 698th consecutive Friday of publishing a journal article. \u00a0(The Foundation was launched 699.5 weeks ago.) \u00a0The new article is\u00a0\u201c\u201cUpon All the Nations\u201d: The g\u00f4yim<\/em> in Nephi\u2019s Rendition of Isaiah 2 (2 Nephi 12) in Literary Context,\u201d<\/a> written by Matthew L. Bowen<\/a>:<\/p>\n Abstract: One of the most notable features of Nephi\u2019s small plates rendition of Isaiah chapter 2 (2 Nephi 12) is the prominent expansion of the nations<\/em> theme with two additional clauses with the word nations<\/em> (Hebrew g\u00f4yim<\/em>) that are not found in the Masoretic text (from which the KJV has been translated). Nephi\u2019s text preserves the use of nations<\/em> from Isaiah 2:2, 4 in 2 Nephi 12:2, 4, but also attests significant additional references to the nations in 2 Nephi 12:12, 14: \u201cFor the day of the Lord of Hosts soon cometh upon all nations, yea, upon every one . . .\u00a0 and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people.\u201d These variants are consistent with\u2014and may even be explained by\u2014Nephi\u2019s declaration of intent in 2 Nephi 25:3: \u201cWherefore, I write unto my people, unto all those that shall receive hereafter these things, which I write, that they may know the judgments of God, that they come upon all nations, according to the word which he hath spoken\u201d (2 Nephi 25:3). This purpose in writing might explain additional textual variants in 2 Nephi 12\u201324 that pertain to coming judgments upon the nations, which is a dominant theme of the writings of Isaiah, which Nephi incorporated into this part of his record.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Professor Bowen\u2019s article is accompanied on the Interpreter webpage by \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: Nephi and the Nations,\u201d<\/a> which was written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a>:<\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201c\u201cUpon All the Nations\u201d: The g\u00f4yim in Nephi\u2019s Rendition of Isaiah 2 (2 Nephi 12) in Literary Context<\/a>\u201d by Matthew L. Bowen in Volume 67 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. All of the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> articles may be seen at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/summaries\/<\/a>. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> series is available at https:\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/rUoWbBFBhcI<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Bowen examines the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi, proposing that Nephi may have chosen and shaped those chapters as a way of promoting an expansive view of God\u2019s relationship with the Gentile nations, working to prepare them for and help them avoid the judgments prophesied to befall them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n In the 4 December 2025 episode of the Interpreter Foundation Podcast, Martin Tanner discussed finding the Messiah in the Old Testament: \u201cThe Interpreter Foundation Podcast \u2014 December 4, 2025: Finding the Messiah in the Old Testament\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n By the way, as we proceed through the month of December \u2014 which, in the United States, is the most important month for charitable giving \u2014 I hope that you\u2019ll consider giving at least a small contribution to the Interpreter Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some Roman tombs evidently bear the inscription NFFNSNC<\/em>. \u00a0You might be pardoned for imagining that NFFNSNC <\/em>is\u00a0the ancient equivalent of the QAnon motto WWG1WGA<\/em>, but it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Rather, it stands for the Latin phrase Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo<\/em>, which means \u201cI was not, I was, I am not, I do not care.\u201d The point, derived from Epicureanism, is that the deceased individual whose tomb it is didn\u2019t exist prior to birth (which didn\u2019t matter to him, he being nonexistent) and that he doesn\u2019t exist after death (which doesn\u2019t matter to him, since he doesn\u2019t exist). \u00a0There is no eternal reward, but there is also no eternal punishment, so the faithful Epicurean can accept life and death with complete equanimity.<\/p>\n Perhaps you imagined such a view of life and death to be modern and, thus, uniquely enlightened. \u00a0Obviously, though, it\u2019s not. \u00a0But it is a self-consistent philosophy, in its way. \u00a0Is it true, though? \u00a0And, speaking of the general population as opposed to individual cases, will it provide sufficient incentive to motivate a moral life, let alone a life of sometimes self-sacrificial giving? \u00a0Is it a sufficient basis for society? \u00a0The late Rodney Stark\u2019s brilliant 1997 book The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries<\/em> offers some very useful insights into the latter two questions. \u00a0I\u2019m thinking, particularly, of his discussion of the starkly different reactions of Christians and pagans to the virulent plagues that swept the ancient Mediterranean world, which Stark, an eminent sociologist, says led to widely different rates of survival and, not coincidentally, to large numbers of Christian converts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Now, this<\/em> is refreshing: \u201cA former NFL quarterback keeps defending the Christianity of Latter-day Saints:\u00a0Robert Griffin III keeps using that word \u2018Christian\u2019 to refer to BYU in his sports commentary, much to the chagrin of some respondents.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0Incidentally, Griffin, who played college football for Baylor University, was the 2011 winner of the Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
For the record: I wasn\u2019t involved in this particular crime.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>
Wikimedia Commons public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n