[2] Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

[3] And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

[4] And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

[5] Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

It would begin at the time of Isaiah and continue until at least the time when the Nephites were destroyed, and the records of the Book of Mormon were hidden in the ground.

Since Ariel is described as the city where David lived, it would have to be either Bethlehem (the city of David) or, more generally, the land or city of Jerusalem.

Verse 1 makes it sound like the people of Jerusalem were just moving forward, year by year, following the basic ceremonial requirements of their religion (such as sacrifices), but not really serving the one true God in spirit and in truth. The end of verse 2 seems to indicate that Jerusalem will look like one of those sacrifices made to God, except instead of animals on the altar, it would be dead bodies of people strewn around the land.

The words of the Book of Mormon would represent the voice with a familiar spirit to the remnant of the House of Israel.

The strangers would be the Gentiles, and the terrible ones would be the unrighteous of the House of Israel. Seemingly in an instant, the Gentiles will rise up to smite the House of Israel. In the Americas, the Lamanites killed off the Nephites, but the Gentiles were eventually brought over, and they were used to smite the Native Americans in this land. For the other tribes of the House of Israel, the Romans (Gentiles) were used to scatter them.

In the Book of Mormon, the passage in 2 Nephi 26:15-19 corresponds to these verses. 2 Nephi 26:15-16 corresponds to verses 3-4 and 2 Nephi 26:18-19 corresponds to verse 5. See below.

[14] But behold, I prophesy unto you concerning the last days; concerning the days when the Lord God shall bring these things forth unto the children of men.

[15] After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.

[16] For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust.

[17] For thus saith the Lord God: They shall write the things which shall be done among them, and they shall be written and sealed up in a book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God.

[18] Wherefore, as those who have been destroyed have been destroyed speedily; and the multitude of their terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away – yea, thus saith the Lord God: It shall be at an instant, suddenly –

[19] And it shall come to pass, that those who have dwindled in unbelief shall be smitten by the hand of the Gentiles.

This series of articles on the Book of Isaiah is an outgrowth of a series of lessons presented at a branch level and is being offered as a study tool for all readers. The interpretations offered are not intended to represent an official position of The Church of Jesus Christ, however they have been reviewed by members of the ministry and can be considered a reliable supplement to any reader’s study of the Book of Isaiah.