1 Nephi 17:13,14 = Exodus 6:6-8 Chiasm

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Ascending: 1 Nephi 17:13,14
(Lord Speaking to the Lehites)

A v13 And I will also be
. . B your light in the wilderness...;
[omission] wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments
. . . . C ye shall be led towards the promised land;
. . . . . . D and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.
. . . . C v14 ...After ye have arrived in the promised land,
. . . . . . . . E ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God;
. . . . . . . . . . F and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destruction;
. . . . . . . . . . . . G yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem.

-------Descending: Exodus 6:6-8-------
(Lord Speaking to the Israelites)

. . . . . . . . . . . . G v6 ...I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,
. . . . . . . . . . F and I will rid you of their bondage,
. . . . . . . . E and I will redeem you
. . . . . . D with a stretched out arm,
. . . . C and with great judgements;
. . B v7 will take you to me for a people,
A and I will be to you a God:
. . . . . . . . E and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God,
. . . . . . . . . . . . G which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
. . . . C v8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob...."

Comments:

This degree of concentrated analogous phraseology is rare (outside of direct quotations). Truly, this is an example of the Lord speaking "the same words unto one nation like unto another." (2 Ne. 29:9.)

Correlations b and d are less fixed than the others. They are examples of parallel points whose combination is a multiplication of meaning rather than simply a sum of the parts. The match in b illuminates the ramifications or conditions of the Lord taking a people to be his people. They must be obedient to his commandments. (See Deut. 10:12,13.)

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by Sterling D. Allan; Fountain Green, Utah; 1994

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