Wo Unto Them That Draw Iniquity with Cords of Vanity; Sin with a Cart Rope; Call Evil Good, and Good Evil

Ed J. Pinegar, Richard J. Allen

Isaiah enumerates some of the failings of the Israelites that bring the wrath of God down upon them. Note the metaphor of “drawing” (enticing, pulling, attracting, embracing) iniquity with cords or ropes of vanity and pride. The phrase anticipates what King Benjamin says concerning the wise strategy for overcoming the carnal man by yielding “to the enticings of the Holy Spirit” (Mosiah 3:19). Isaiah warns of the opposite—yielding to the enticings of iniquity by drawing evil deeds to the individual by way of a cord. Furthermore, the people are warned against sinning “with a cart rope”—as if they were tethered to unrighteousness by a rope that binds them to the sinful load or burden they are dragging behind them down the pathway of life. The reference to those who “call evil good, and good evil” is an appropriate characterization of our modern culture of relative morals and abandoned principles.

Commentaries and Insights on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1

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