Lehi underscores the urgency of his message by pointing out to his children that he will soon die and that this is his final effort to lead his children to Yahweh. Like most parents, he loves all of his children but feels some security in contemplating the righteous ones while experiencing greatest concern for his rebellious offspring.
Apologetics: This verse has become the subject of some apologetic activity because the objection has been raised that Joseph plagiarized the phrase “from whence no traveler can return” from Shakespeare. To this accusation, Franklin S. Harris Jr. responded:
Alexander Campbell referred to a quotation from Shakespeare. This has been repeated by many others including John Hyde, Jr., T. B. H. Stenhouse, M. T. Lamb, W. A. Linn, and G. B. Arbaugh.
Let us compare three verses from Job in the Old Testament with Lehi in the Book of Mormon and with Shakespeare.
Job 10:20–21: “Let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,” and 16:22, “When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.”
Lehi (2 Ne. 1:14) expresses the idea as: “Hear the words of a trembling parent whose limbs you must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return.”
Shakespeare: “The undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.” Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1.
It appears that Lehi is more like Job than Shakespeare. Since Lehi studied Old Testament records and Shakespeare was familiar with the Bible, it seems likely that they took their common inspiration from Job. Joseph Smith may have been familiar with Job but it is unlikely that he was familiar with Shakespeare.