A Deep Dive into Jacob 2:30
How “raise up seed” in Jacob 2:30 came to be read as permission for polygamy, and what the Book of Mormon’s own context says the verse means.
- IntroThe Verse That Shaped Our History
Jacob 2:30 is the exception Mormons rely on to allow a future commandment of polygamy. This series looks at what the Book of Mormon itself says the verse means.
Part 1Common Interpretation
- 1.1Wresting the Scriptures
The Nephites excused their sins by misreading the scriptures about David and Solomon. The Book of Mormon warns that wresting scripture leads to destruction.
- 1.2One Interpretation, Officially
Every official source reads Jacob 2:30 the same way: monogamy unless God commands otherwise, to raise up more children. The birth records don’t appear to bear that reason out.
- 1.3The Root of the Interpretation
The conventional reading of Jacob 2:30 was first defended in print in 1853, in Orson Pratt’s The Seer, months after plural marriage was announced.
- 1.4Chapter and Verse
Jacob 2 and 3 were one sermon. The chapter break, verses, headings, and first footnotes came later, and the first note on verse 30 came from Orson Pratt.
- 1.5Alternate Universe
Ten years before Orson Pratt’s reading, Hyrum Smith preached from Jacob 2 at the temple and called its rule a perpetual principle. The historians who quote the sermon leave that part out.
- 1.6Joseph and Jacob 2
Joseph never used Jacob 2:30 to justify plural marriage. On the day he and Hyrum died, five statements on record said a man should have one wife.
Part 2Book of Mormon Context
- 2.1Context: Wickedness and Abominations
Read everything Jacob says around verse 30 and it’s all condemnation: abominations, whoredoms, a cursed land. Does that sound like the setup for an exception?
- 2.2Daughters of God
Jacob’s sermon is full of God’s daughters: tender wives, broken hearts, cries that reach heaven. Would the Lord command the very thing he says is breaking their hearts?
- 2.3Justice and Judgment
- 2.4The Thoughts of the Heart
Jacob didn’t catch the Nephites in the act. He saw it in their hearts. The sin he condemns begins as a desire, and the Lord treats the desire as the sin.
- 2.5The Feast of Tabernacles
- 2.6The Law of the King
Why would the Lord call David and Solomon’s many wives “abominable” if no law forbade them? The law of the king did, and Jacob 1 echoes it almost word for word.
- 2.7A Branch of Joseph
Five verses before “raise up seed unto me,” the Lord says he led Lehi out “that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch.” Seed, branch, and fruit are covenant language.
- 2.8Raise Up Seed
The only other time the Book of Mormon says “raise up seed,” the Lord tells Lehi’s sons to take wives, one each. Raising up seed was done through monogamy.
- 2.9Whose Voice?
Jacob’s sermon has several voices. Verses 27–33, including verse 30, are the Lord’s commandment to Lehi, read back to the Nephites a generation later.
- 2.10What’s in a Name?
“Lord of Hosts” appears only 52 times in the Book of Mormon, usually in warnings of destruction. Six are in Jacob 2:28–33, the verses from Lehi’s record.
- 2.11Covenant Land
Lehi’s promised land came with a covenant, with blessings and curses. The one-wife commandment is one of its conditions, which is why Jacob 2:29 says “cursed be the land.”
- 2.12Prosper in the Land
“Keep my commandments and ye shall prosper in the land.” For Lehi’s family the commandments came by revelation, one wife among them, and prosper may mean pressing forward toward God’s presence.
- 2.13Agency
- 2.14Jacob’s Prophecy
Jacob’s sermon ends in prophecy: break the one-wife commandment and the land is cursed, and the Lamanites will scourge you. Omni records it coming true.
- 2.15Led Away
- 2.16No Kings Upon the Land
Mosiah II held every record of Israel’s, the Nephites’ and the Jaredites’ kings. Each told the same story, so he ended the kings. The Book of Mormon says there shall be no kings upon this land.
Part 3Exploring Possible Meanings
A list of 25+ possible meanings.
- 3.1More Ways to Read Verse 30
- 3.2For If I Will
- 3.3Raise Up Seed: Levirate Marriage
In the Bible, “raise up seed” is the language of levirate marriage: a brother keeping a dead man’s name alive. Could that be the narrow exception in Jacob 2:30?
- 3.4Raise Up Seed: A King’s Heir
- 3.5Raise Up Seed: Heirs of the Kingdom
Abinadi asks, “Who shall be his seed?” Those who hear the prophets and believe: “the heirs of the kingdom of God.” Is that the seed of Jacob 2:30?
- 3.6Raise Up Seed: Fruit of the Tree
- 3.7Otherwise
- 3.8Hearken
- 3.9These Things
Part 4Loose Ends
Things that are interesting but don’t fit into the priority of understanding Jacob 2:30.
- Grievous to Be Borne
Part 5Thoughts & Conclusion
- The Lamanites
- Reaping Destruction
- All Is Not Lost