Verse 6 continues the things in which Nephi’s soul delighted. It is separated here because although it is linked to the previous verses, it serves to introduce Nephi’s conclusion.
Nephi provides an interesting logic. If there is no Messiah, then there is no God, and if there were no God, then we would not exist. This logic depends on the conditions that Jacob explained, and because Nephi has written them into his record, he need not reprise them. What Nephi does is reprise Lehi’s words: “And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away” (2 Nephi 2:13).
This concludes his personal testimony of what Jacob had preached. Nephi now turns to Isaiah, where he will copy thirteen chapters of Isaiah, from Isaiah 2 through Isaiah 14. In the 1830 edition, there is no chapter break at this point. Nephi continued directly into Isaiah 2.
Why did Nephi copy so many chapters of Isaiah? There are two reasons. The most important is that he will use Isaiah as the touchstone for his explanation of his vision of the future which will follow. The second reason is that he probably couldn’t be sure that his future readers would have access to Isaiah. The process of copying was laborious, and there were probably few copies. Nephi didn’t take the chance that they wouldn’t survive.