“I Say Unto You That Ye Are They of Whom I Said”

George Reynolds, Janne M. Sjodahl

After having given these explanations to the multitude gathered about Him, Jesus again turned to the Twelve Disciples whom He had chosen and told them the meaning of them words He spoke unto the Jews when He was ministering among them in Jerusalem: "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

These other sheep of which Jesus spoke were the Nephites themselves, He said, who had separated from the Jews because of the latter's iniquity; and because of their continued evil doing and lack of faith, the knowledge of the existence of Lehi's family on the American Continent had been withheld from them. But, what was still more, Jesus had yet other sheep, which were neither of the Jews nor of the Nephites, nor of the lands in which they dwelt. They were a people whom He had not yet visited and who had not yet heard His voice; but He had received a commandment from the Father to visit them, to show Himself unto them, and teach them, and then they would all be of the one fold and He would be Shepherd to them all.

The other sheep of which the Savior spoke, neither the Jews nor the Nephites, we understand to be the Ten Tribes of Israel who were carried away into captivity, but who unlike the House of Judah, never returned to their homes in the Promised Land. We are told that they were led away by the power of the Lord to a land of which no one knows anything, only that which is revealed.

Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 7

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