2 Nephi 20-22

2 Nephi Lesson 9: 2 Nephi 20-22
Day 1: Read 2 Nephi 20:1-4; Isaiah 10:1-4 with footnotes
Optional background reading: 2 Kings 16-19
1. Isaiah pronounced three evils on Ephraim at the end of chapter 19. The first four verses of chapter 20 explain the fourth and final evil of this pronouncement. What is the last evil of Ephraim?


2. How much mercy can the merciless expect from God?


3. 2 Nephi 20:3 asks three rhetorical questions. From D&C 104:17-18, what might be the Lord’s answer to these questions? In other words, where will Ephraim leave her glory?


Day 2: Read 2 Nephi 20:5-11; Isaiah 10:5-11 with footnotes; Mormon 4:5
4. The previous four evils explain why the Lord is angry. Use Mormon 4:5 to explain why the Lord used the Assyrians to punish Israel.


5. Does the Assyrian king know he is a tool of the Lord God of Israel? What proof can you find in this passage to support your answer?



6. NOTE: Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria and Damascus were cities already conquered by the Assyrians. Why do you think the king of Assyria listed his conquests? Who are the Assyrians in your life?




7. Assyria boasted that Samaria’s idols couldn’t stop her and neither will Jerusalem’s idols. Who or what were Jerusalem’s idols?



Day 3: Read 2 Nephi 20:12-19; Isaiah 10:12-19 with footnotes; Moses 4:1; 2 Kings 19:35-37
8. Compare 2 Nephi 20:13-14 with Moses 4:1. Of whom do the Assyrians remind you?



9. In 2 Nephi 20:15, Isaiah again compared Assyria’s king to a series of tools, which brag that they are more powerful or important than He who wields them. According to 2 Kings 19:35-37, how were the Assyrians devoured “in one day” (see 2 Nephi 20:17).




10. Does D&C 59:21 apply to the Assyrians? Why or why not?



Day 4: Read 2 Nephi 20:20-34; Isaiah 10:20-34; 2 Kings 19:32-34
12. Read the chapter heading for 2 Nephi 20. Why do you think Nephi wanted his posterity and latter-day Israel to have this prophecy from Isaiah?



13. Use the footnotes from Isaiah 10:22-23 to explain how there is hope even in prophecies regarding the destruction at the end of the world (“consumption decreed”).



14. NOTE: Nob was just outside Jerusalem. What does the Lord promise Jerusalem in 2 Kings 19:32-34?


Day 5: Read 2 Nephi 21:1-9; Isaiah 11:1-9, D&C 113:1-4
15. According to D&C 113:1-4, who is the stem of Jesse? What is meant by the image of a “rod” or branch that is to come from the stem of Jesse?



16. Give the leadership qualities of the “rod” as listed by Isaiah in 2 Nephi 21:2-5.



17. During what time period, according to the chapter heading, will “the knowledge of God cover the earth”?


Day 6: Read 2 Nephi 21:10-16; Isaiah 10:10-16 with footnotes; D&C 90:2-4; D&C 113:5-6
18. What keys were given to Joseph Smith in D&C 90:2-4? What does this indicate regarding the “root of Jesse” in 2 Nephi 21:10?



19. Use the footnote for Isaiah 11:13a to help explain one interpretation of 2 Nephi 21:12-13.



20. The pronoun “they” in the first sentence of 2 Nephi 21:14 may refer to the Jews in the latter days. With this in mind, what fulfillment(s) of this prophecy have we seen in our lifetimes?



Day 7: Read 2 Nephi 22:1-6; Isaiah 12:1-6 with footnotes
21. According to the chapter heading, when will all men praise the Lord?



22. How can we “draw water out of the wells of salvation” today?