Textual analysis: With Nephi's penchant for citing Isaiah, it is possible that this passage hints at one of the Messianic passages in Isaiah:
"3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isa. 53:3-5.
It is equally possible that this passage depended upon Nephi's own prophetic vision, and is much more likely that Nephi would have been familiar with both, and both formed his text. The difference in the text, however, suggests that the phrasing is Nephi's own, however much the specifics might be related to Isaiah. When Mosiah cites this same passage it is an obvious quotation from the brass plates, where Nephi's statement is not:
"Mosiah 14:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Nephi's structuring of the salient events of the Passion diverge from a copy and therefore are probably more strongly based on his vision (particularly since we are well aware that Nephi did not avoid long citations from Isaiah!).
Nevertheless, Nephi's treatment of the texts of other brass plate prophets in the following verse indicate that at this point in his writing he is interested more in the reference than the citation, even though he cites aplenty later.