In the next chapter of Isaiah, the prophet will compare the house of Israel to a ‘vineyard in a very fruitful hill’ (2 Nephi 15:1). Isaiah may be referencing the prophecies of Zenos and the parable of the olive-tree (Jacob 5). This is important because it helps us to understand that the branch represents a part of the house of Israel in the last days. ’Joseph…obtained a promise of the Lord, that…God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light’ (2 Nephi 3:5).