The symbol of the mists reappears because Nephi’s posterity, by the end of the fourth generation, are wandering away into the “broad roads, that they perish and are lost.”
Reference: The “broad roads” may be a reversal of the image in Matthew 7:14: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” If the narrow path is for the few who find the way, then the broad road is for the many who lose their way. The image of the strait and narrow path appears in Lehi’s dream (1 Ne. 8:20), but the specific language of this passage may also owe a debt to Matthew.
Translation:See the commentary accompanying 2 Nephi 2:17 for more information on the concept of “the devil” in Hebrew thought.