2 Ne. 19:8 through 20:4 comprises a prophetic poem. (2 Ne. 7:2; 15:25; 24:26–27; 28:32; Jacob 6:4–5; Alma 19:36; Mosiah 14:1; 16:12; 29:20; 3 Ne. 9:13–14; D&C 35:8; Ezek. 6:14; 14:9; 2 Ne. 1:4)
Before we leave this prophetic poem (19:8–20:4) it should be pointed out that the last clause of the four refrains (19:12, 17, 21; 20:4), “but his hand is stretched out still,” is usually interpreted to mean that God’s wrath against his people is unappeasable, that Isaiah has no word of hope for his people, still unrepentant. Some commentators express the meaning of the clause in this manner: “But his hand is stretched out still to strike.” I may be wrong, but I feel that Isaiah was by no means completely a prophet of doom, that he still held out to his people a note of encouragement intended to bring about their repentance (cf. Isa. 1:16–20). Let me express it this way: “But his hand is stretched out still if only you but change your ways.”
(Sidney B. Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], 213.)
His grasp is galactic.
(Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1976, 26.)
Our merciful and long-suffering Lord is ever ready to help. His “arm is lengthened out all the day long” (2 Ne. 28:32), and even if His arm goes ungrasped, it was unarguably there! In the same redemptive reaching out, our desiring to improve our human relationships usually requires some long-suffering. Sometimes reaching out is like trying to pat a porcupine. Even so, the accumulated quill marks are evidence that our hands of fellowship have been stretched out, too!
(Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Nov. 1996, 22.)
Isaiah frequently used an interesting phrase when discussing Judah’s sins and God’s continued acts of judgment against her: “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still” (Isa. 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4). Despite repeated punishments, Isaiah’s people refused to repent. This reminds us of the words of Amos, Isaiah’s contemporary, when he repeated after a whole series of devastating experiences, “Yet have ye not returned unto me” (Amos 4:6, 8, 11). These phrases imply that God uses judgments as chastening tools to accomplish his divine purpose. As Mormon wrote, “And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him” (Hel. 12:3).
(Keith A Meservy, Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4, ed. Kent P. Jackson [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 99.)