According to Donald Parry and John Welch, Isaiah was specifically commanded by the Lord to speak precisely in such a way that his recalcitrant audience would "hear . . . but understand not" and would "see . . but perceive not" (2 Nephi 16:9). God wanted Isaiah to tell the people enough to warn them, but not to tell them enough to let them comprehend what was really going on (see 2 Nephi 16:10-11). Isaiah carried out this assignment masterfully, making it hard for almost everyone to understand what he was talking about. Then how can Isaiah best be taught and understood? The answer is the Book of Mormon itself. The use of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon is not a shallow or superficial importing of extraneous material into an illogical context. In each case, it is clear that the Book of Mormon teachers were intimately, deeply, and profoundly immersed in the meanings of these Isaiah texts. If modern readers can only understand why and how Nephi, Jacob, Abinadi, and Jesus interpreted and used Isaiah, the insights in the Book of Mormon will do much to clarify what the Isaiah chapters are all about. Intriguingly, Nephi rejoiced in the "plainness" of Isaiah (2 Nephi 2 Nephi 25:4) and knew that Isaiah possessed great knowledge of the Messiah, for he had seen the Redeemer as had Nephi (see 2 Nephi 11:2). By using Nephi, his fellow prophets, and the words of Christ as our guide, hopefully the writings of Isaiah can become plainer and simpler to us. [Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, "Introduction," in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, pp. vii-viii]