Setting: Jacob begins his address on the second day, not with a condemnatory note, but by referring to his “beloved brethren.” As is typical in the Book of Mormon, the address is to males without specific reference to women. However, it is most likely that there were women present both as part of the festival and attending this discourse.
Jacob associates his audience with the “righteous branch” which he mentioned in the last sentence of his previous day’s discourse. His discourse on the atonement had elaborated Isaiah’s theme of the future. Now he focuses closely on the future of this branch of Israel in the New World—a theme he has extrapolated from Isaiah’s general statements about the future of the house of Israel.