“The Waste Places of the Fat Ones”

Brant Gardner

The poetic reversal continues. Where the subject of verse 16 was the reversal of power and position, verse 17 is the reversal of the possession of food. Now the land that the wealthy had accumulated for themselves will be returned to the pastures of the common. The reading of the final phrase is one where different sources provide a different term:

"The "waste places of the fat ones" probably refers to the now desolate lands of the once rich and prosperous. Some translation describe "kids" or goats eating the land, while others record that "strangers" will feed in the area. The term used depends upon which early Old Testament version is followed - the Hebrew Masoretic text uses the word for "aliens" in this verse, while the Greek Septuagint has the word for "young goats." (Ludlow, p. 119)

From a poetic standpoint, the correlation of the kids to the lambs makes a better parallel. In either case, however, the idea is that the wealth of the mighty is being returned to the pastoral (although even this reversal favors the "kid" over the "stranger".)

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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