Nephi now returns to the beginning point of his sin/salvation // temptation/praise cycle. After praising Yahweh’s goodness, he now returns to the theme of temptations, predicting a conclusion that will be an exhortation for harmony with God. Perhaps Nephi is using this set of literary parallels to describe the natural tendency of humanity to wrestle continually with temptation, even after periods of great righteousness. The structure of the psalm thus reflects experience.
Variant: Skousen notes: “The 1830 compositor underlined me in the printer’s manuscript, probably to indicate an error. . . He set the type to read men, but this is undoubtedly an error.” The text should read: “if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited memen in so much mercy.… ”