Reference: Nephi is resetting Isaiah 29:11. Because of the importance of the thematic transition, I also quote verse 10: “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.”
In Isaiah, the “voice from the dust” is the demeaned Israelites. In Nephi’s version, the voice is those who have died (2 Ne. 26:15). “Slumbering” has a dual function. In the previous verse (2 Ne. 27: 5) “sleep” refers to those whose eyes were closed to the gospel. In verse 27:6, “slumbering” refers to the destroyed Nephite nation whose record is coming forth.
Not only does Nephi use sleep as a literary image with a new meaning, he also creates an interesting tension between the world and the words of the slumbering Nephites. Those who are “slumbering” (the dead Nephites) will bring salvation to the sleepers (apostate Israel and by extension, the Gentiles). By using the same imagery in both contexts, Nephi inextricably ties them together in intent and purpose. The Nephites’ words will rise from the “slumbering” and will awaken the apostate world to the gospel.
In recasting Isaiah, Nephi uses Isaiah’s theme of sleeping to move his vision along but foregrounds the explanation of the sealed book, expanding the theme in the next verses in a way that is not directly based upon Isaiah. Nephi will return to Isaiah in verse 15 when he describes the sealed book being taken to the learned man.