1 Nephi 22:11-12 and the significance of the name 'Joseph'

This is one of the best examples of how an understanding of Hebrew greatly enhances the richness of the text. The verb in verse 11 "will proceed to" is "yasap" which shares the same root with the Hebrew name "Joseph".

11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.

12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.

In other words, God will "Joseph" a latter-day work.

In light of the known prophetic significance of the name Joseph (see 2 Nephi 3), this is pretty great stuff.

This paper by Matthew Bowen goes into exquisite detail on the significance of this Hebrew root in the writings of Nephi and Isaiah.

1 Nephi 19:10

The first half of verse 10 is dripping with irony:

10 And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos,

The same God who led them out of bondage, preserved them in the wilderness, and sent prophets to testify of him willingly gives himself up as a man to those same people, who have long since forgotten him and turned to their own ways. When he comes, they reject him and crucify him (for committing blasphemy by claiming to be the Messiah).

To underscore his point, Nephi references three Israelite prophets who had testified of these things. We of course have to direct knowledge of these prophets because their words have been removed from the record (too plain and precious, perhaps?).

1 Nephi 14:1-17 and the Two Churches

Verses 1-17 speak of the time when God shall:

manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks

The prophecy then paints a stark contrast between two paths, two types of people, and two churches.

I've created a side-by-side summary of what is said in these verses in an effort to highlight the differences between the two paths. 

The document includes names given to each church, qualities of its members, and promises and outcomes detailed in the prophecy.

	Names			Qualities			Promises/Outcomes
Verse	Lamb of God	Devil		Lamb of God	Devil		Lamb of God	Devil
1
2							they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded.
3		great and abominable church			founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell			that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction (not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end)
4								this is according to the captivity of the devil, and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination before him
5							Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them	thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth not must perish
6							wo be unto the Gentiles if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God.
7				convincing of them unto peace and life eternal	deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil
8
9		behold that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations			founder is the devil
10	church of the Lamb of God	church of the devil; mother of abominations; the whore of all the earth			whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church
11		the whore of all the earth			she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people
12	church of the Lamb of God; church of the Lamb; the saints of God	the great whore		were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore
13		the great mother of abominations			the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God
14	saints of the church of the Lamb; the covenant people of the Lord						the power of the Lamb of God...descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.
15		great and abominable church						the wrath of God was poured out upon that great and abominable church, insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nationsand kindreds of the earth.
16		the mother of harlots						the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots
17	his people who are of the house of Israel	mother of harlots; the great and abominable church of all the earth			founder is the devil		the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel.

An interesting connection I noticed was that just as Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and we as his covenant people strive to be part of his metaphorical bride (as in, the parable of the ten virgins), Satan is the founder of the great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth.

Chiasmus in 1 Nephi 4:5-24

Verses 5-24 contain a great example of chiasmus. Although some people dismiss the entire notion of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon as no big deal, I believe there are several solid examples in which the structure of the words add to the poetic effect and help emphasize the central purpose of the passage. This is one of those examples:

The basic overview is as follows:
A v. 5 The brothers hide outside the walls. 
B v. 5 Nephi went forth towards the house of Laban and sees Laban.
C v. 9 Nephi holds Laban's sword 
D v. 10 Nephi is constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban 
E v. 12 "the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands" 
F v. 14-15 "I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise. Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law. 16 And I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass." 
E' v. 17 "I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands" 
D' v. 18 Nephi obeys the voice of the Spirit 
C' v. 18-19 Nephi kills Laban with his sword. 
B' v. 20-21 Nephi went forth unto the treasury of Laban and Zoram believes he sees Laban. 
A' v. 24 Nephi and Zoram carry the plates to his brothers outside the walls.

Nephi teaches us the importance of keeping the commandments of the Lord by placing that concept at the apex of a chiasm detailing how he obtained the plates of brass through obedience.

1 Nephi 3:29, Hebrew Wordplay?

Verse 29:

29 And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands.

This is based on notes from a hebrew language expert:

The angel uses a wordplay here between rod (מקל - makel) and ruler (מלך - melech). Also notice how the angel holds them accountable for their iniquity (avonah), because clearly they had no intention of keeping their words and thus were guilty before the Law of G-d.

1 Nephi 1:1

The name Nephi likely stems from an Egyptian word nfr, which means "good" or "goodly". Thus Nephi's introduction of himself to the reader is likely a wordplay on his own name.

1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

Furthermore, Nephi concludes his writings with the following words, in 2 Nephi 33:10 and 14, forming an inclusio of sorts.

10...And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

14 And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell...