In this image of the captive, bound and sitting in the dust, Yahweh makes it clear that the captivity is spiritual. Israel may free itself by simply responding to Yahweh’s word. Even if Israel may be in physical captivity, it is the spiritual captivity that is more important and eternally dangerous.
Message to Jacob’s Audience: Chapter 9 is Jacob’s analysis of what redemption from captivity means, taking Yahweh’s eternal view that the Atoning Messiah’s mission is the ultimate redemption. However, it is quite likely that this Isaiah passage would continue to reverberate in more immediate ways for the Nephites.
Isaiah interprets Israel’s historical problem with its bellicose neighbors as a result of its spiritual sleep. The Nephites, although victorious in their skirmishes with the Lamanites to this point, must have plainly seen the possibilities of captivity and would have understood the reminder that righteousness would protect them. Those themes—preservation resulting from righteousness, and captivity resulting from wickedness—recur throughout the Book of Mormon.
Text: This is the end of a chapter in the 1830 edit