After assuring his people that the Atonement will satisfy the demands of God’s justice "upon all those who have not the law given to them" (9:26), people who know better will be held accountable. As a warning, Jacob then pronounces a set of ten woes upon those (1) who set aside the counsel of God, (2) who despise the poor, (3) who will not hear and obey, (4) who will not see, (5) whose hearts are impure or uncircumcised, (6) who tell lies, (7) who deliberately kill, (8) who commit whoredoms, (9) who worship idols, and (10) all who die in their sins (27–38). In a covenant setting, this list of Woes functions similar to the list of twelve curses found near the end of the book of Deuteronomy (27:15–26).
Several of Jacob’s woes are consequential warnings related to several of the Ten Commandments, which served as the basis of the Lord’s covenant with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. Covenants come with commitments, and failing to keep one’s righteous commitments leads to unhappiness. Such ten-fold structures signal to listeners the completeness or perfection of the Lord’s covenant teachings and promises (See Figure).
Figure 1Welch, John W., and Greg Welch. Jacob’s Ten Woes and Ten Commandments. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1999.
Book of Mormon Central, "Why Does Jacob Declare so Many ‘Woes’? (2 Nephi 9:27)," KnoWhy 35 (February 17, 2016).