Literature: Jacob begins his prophesying, not with prophecy, but with this hymn of praise. He glorifies Yahweh’s work, pronouncing a blessing on those who labor in the last days and condemning those who have departed from Yahweh (those who are “cast out”). He praises Yahweh’s longsuffering toward the house of Israel in very personal terms: “how merciful is our God unto us.” Jacob, like Nephi, clearly considers his people part of the house of Israel, one of the branches planted afar off, or as Nephi saw them, on the isles of the sea. (See commentary accompanying 1 Nephi 19:10.)