These four verses are a set. Nephi begins with a new prophecy. He is no longer looking back to Isaiah, nor to his own vision, but influenced by his review of his vision of the future, he expands that view to a greater understanding. After the Book of Mormon is published, the descendants of Nephi will know that they are a remnant of Nephi’s seed. It is clear that, while Nephi has seen the destruction of the Nephites as a people, he also sees their preservation. It is probable that he includes all of his father’s seed in that description of the future, thus he includes those that he would call Lamanites. Indeed, Lehi had promised the descendants of Laman and Lemuel: “because of my blessing the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish; wherefore, he will be merciful unto you and unto your seed forever” (2 Nephi 4:7).
Nephi sees the words of the Book of Mormon being of particular benefit to the remnant of his seed, again probably his father’s seed. The Book of Mormon would bring the remnant to a knowledge that they are part of covenant Israel, and that “their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes.”
In the 1830 edition, the last phrase of verse 6 was that “they shall be a white and a delightsome people.” Joseph Smith changed white to pure for the 1840 edition. That change was lost, and it remained white in the Latter-day Saint editions until it was restored in 1981. Joseph Smith understood white as metaphorical in 1840. See commentary for 2 Nephi 5:20–21 for a discussion of the metaphorical reading of “skin of blackness” that is related to the metaphorical use of the word white.