Having warned against rejecting more of the word of God (28:29– 30), Nephi identifies the time when there shall come forth more of the word of God. It will be when the Lord sets his “hand again the second time to recover [his] people … the house of Israel,” as he had covenanted to do (v. 1). In speaking of this second gathering, Nephi is quoting from Isaiah 11:11, a chapter that the angel Moroni told Joseph Smith, in September 1823, “was about to be fulfilled” (JS—History 1:40). Moroni had also stated, when he was abridging the Jaredite records, that “when ye shall receive this record [the Book of Mormon] ye may know that the work of the Father [the gathering of Israel] has commenced upon all the face of the land” (Ether 4:17).
The Lord reminds Nephi of the promise made to him and his father that the words of their seed, the Book of Mormon, would be brought forth unto their seed (v. 2). We have no specific account of the Lord’s promise to Nephi and Lehi, but we do have the same promise given to Enos, son of Jacob, grandson of Lehi.
16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time.
17 And I, Enos, knew it would be according to the covenant which he had made; wherefore my soul did rest.
18 And the Lord said unto me: Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done unto them according to their faith; for their faith was like unto thine. [Enos 1:16–18]
“Thy fathers” (v. 18) may be a general reference to Nephi and Lehi, or perhaps Enos’ father Jacob was also given this promise.
Another promise of the Lord was that the words of Nephi’s seed, the Lord’s word (the Book of Mormon) would “hiss forth unto the ends of the earth for a standard unto … the house of Israel.” This interprets more of the words of Isaiah. The phrase “for a standard unto my people” is a paraphrase of Isaiah 49:22 (1 Nephi 21:22) which speaks of the Gentiles being nursed through this standard. Therefore, we can identify the standard spoken of by Isaiah as the Book of Mormon. To “hiss forth unto the ends of the earth” is a paraphrase of Isaiah 5:26 (2 Nephi 15:26), and interprets the ensign used in that same verse as the Book of Mormon. The lifting up of a banner spoken of in Isaiah
13:2 (2 Nephi 23:2) also refers to the Book of Mormon.
The same Hebrew word may be translated as “standard,” “ensign,” or “banner.” Thus from 2 Nephi 29:2 we learn that all of these words in the Book of Isaiah are references to the Book of Mormon. Nephi also equates the Book of Mormon with the “marvelous work” of the latter days (v. 1). When Jesus visited the Nephites, in referring to the Book of Mormon, he spoke of “a marvelous work” that his servant would “bring forth unto the Gentiles” (Nephi 21:9–11).
Coming back to the concept with which Nephi began this chapter, the reaction of the Book of Mormon coming forth, he identifies “the many” of whom he speaks as being the Gentiles among whom the Book of Mormon would be brought forth. Their reaction of “A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible” (v. 3), is the reaction that Nephi had warned against earlier; “we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough” (28:29).