Isaiah 49 opens with another
Servant Song (compare Isaiah 42). As Nephi quoted Isaiah 49 to his brothers, he
included a significant introduction that helps us identify the isles to whom
this prophecy is addressed. While our current Old Testament version begins with a simple imperative, “Listen, O isles unto me” (49:1), Nephi’s version begins, “And
again: Hearken, O ye house of Israel, all ye that are broken off and are driven
out because of the wickedness of the pastors of my people; yea, all ye that are
broken off, that are scattered abroad who are of m people, O house of Israel.
Listen, O isles, unto me” (1 Nephi 21:1). Thus we learn that isles,
as used in Isaiah, refers to the scattered covenant people. (Terry Ball and
Nathan Will, Making Sense of Isaiah: Insights and Modern Applications [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009], 138, emphasis in bold added)
