Nephi echoes a technique from Isaiah without specific reference to a verse. These are reversals. The wise, learned, and rich are assumed to be esteemed in society, but because of their actions and teachings, they will be brought down. The phrase “thrust down to hell” is found in Luke 10:15, but not in the Old Testament. The meaning of Nephi’s original language would have had a more Old Testament-style meaning, and rather than being thrust down to hell, the image would have simply been to be brought down, an image that recurs in Isaiah.
Verse 16 says: “Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught.” This phrase echoes Isaiah 29:21 which contains the phrase: “turn aside the just for a thing of nought.”
This small unit ends with the promise that a “wo” shall fall upon the wicked, but not upon those who truly repent.