Editing Second Nephi (section)

==== Intertextuality ====
Nephi quotes extensively from the [[Book of Isaiah]] throughout 1 and 2 Nephi, with passages largely appearing as they do in the [[Bible]].{{sfn|Givens|2009|p=37}} Elizabeth Fenton describes these passages as "not-quite-exact copying," with differences being minor.<ref name=":52">{{Cite journal |last=Fenton |first=Elizabeth |date=2016-01-01 |title=Understanding the Book of Mormon |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1589&context=jbms |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=43–45|jstor=10.18809/jbms.2016.0105 }}</ref> J.N. Washburn, an independent scholar, cites that 199 of 433 verses from Isaiah appear with the same wording and proposes that Joseph Smith used the [[King James Bible]] version whenever it was close enough to the original meaning of the plates he was said to be translating and used the new translation when meaning differed.{{sfn|Washburn|1954|p=187}} According to author H. Clay Gorton, 2 Nephi 21 is the only Isaiah-quoted chapter in the Book of Mormon that, when compared to the KJV, sustains no textual differences. In a similar vein, 2 Nephi 22 and Isaiah 12 are different only by one word. Gorton has concluded that, where Isaiah verses differ in the Book of Mormon, approximately 38% of those changes are extensive.{{sfn|Gorton|1994|p=32}}

Philosopher Joseph Spencer calls Isaiah "the honored keynote speaker of the small plates."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spencer |first=Joseph M. |title=The Anatomy of Book of Mormon Theology |publisher=Greg Kofford Books |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-58958-780-9 |volume=1 |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|page=16}}</ref> Spencer also emphasizes that even beyond quotations, Jacob and Nephi's teachings both seem to be built on further ideas of Isaiah's.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spencer |first=Joseph M. |title=Reading Nephi Reading Isaiah 2 Nephi 26–27 |publisher=Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship |year=2016b |isbn=978-0-8425-2866-5 |editor-last=Spencer |editor-first=Joseph M. |edition=2nd |pages=17–18 |chapter=Nephi, Isaiah, and Europe |editor-last2=Webb |editor-first2=Jenny}}</ref> A scholar involved in early studies of the Book of Mormon, [[Sidney B. Sperry|Sidney Sperry]], suggests that by including Isaiah's writings, Nephi points out the mission of Jesus Christ, the restoration of the house of Israel, and God’s judgments that follow.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sperry |first=Sidney B. |title=The Isaiah Quotation: 2 Nephi 12–24 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1105&context=jbms |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=193 |via=BYU ScholarsArchive}}</ref> Additionally, Nephi says he "delights" in Isaiah but explains that a knowledge of Jewish tradition is needed to understand his writings, according to literary critic Michael Austin. Nephi admits he has chosen not to teach his people certain knowledge and traditions with which he is familiar as a former resident of Jerusalem.<ref>{{Harvnb|Austin|2024|p=157}}.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Chapter comparison
!2 Nephi
!Isaiah
|-
|2 Nephi 7
|Isaiah 50
|-
|2 Nephi 8
|Isaiah 51
|-
|2 Nephi 12–24
|Isaiah 2-14
|-
|2 Nephi 27
|Isaiah 29{{sfn|Washburn|1954|p=188}}
|}