2 Nephi 25:1 - 25:5

2 Nephi 25:1 Now I, Nephi, do speak somewhat concerning the words which I have written, which have been spoken by the mouth of Isaiah. For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews.

Nephi will now interpret the words of Isaiah that he just read to his people. Nephi knows that what Isaiah wrote is difficult to understand unless you had grown up in Jewish society. One has to know the idioms and culture of the people to make sense of his expressions and language.

2 Nephi 25:2 For I, Nephi, have not taught them many things concerning the manner of the Jews; for their works were works of darkness, and their doings were doings of abominations.

Nephi has not taught his people much concerning their culture. They were a degraded people as shown by what they did for entertainment and what laws they had enacted among themselves.

2 Nephi 25:3 Wherefore, 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.

So Nephi will not send any time describing the land or the people from which his family came. Instead he will dwell on the judgments that are in the wings for all the nations of the earth. (He is going to talk about the future not the past.)

2 Nephi 25:4 Wherefore, hearken, O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my words; for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy. But I give unto you a prophecy, according to the spirit which is in me; wherefore I shall prophesy according to the plainness which hath been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father; for behold, my soul delighteth in plainness unto my people, that they may learn.

Nephi warns the people of the earth to pay close attention to what he has to say. They are important if one wants to survive the coming destruction. He further states that what Isaiah has written is not really hard to understand if you have the spirit of prophecy; prophecy being able to foresee the future. Nephi will show us all what he has seen in visions since he left Jerusalem with his family. He will tells us in plain words that we may understand without question what is to come in the future to the world.

2 Nephi 25:5 Yea, and my soul delighteth in the words of Isaiah, for I came out from Jerusalem, and mine eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews, and I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets, and there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.

Nephi loves Isaiah’s words. He was raised among the Jews and knows their culture intimately. He knows their expressions, slang and language. He knows that the prophets wrote in a manner that the Jews understood perfectly what they were talking about. Only the Jews could understand what the prophets were talking about because their words were meant only for them in their idioms. So unless you were raised as a Jew or had a lot of contact with them you could not understand what the prophets were saying to them.