Latter-day Saint scholar Donald W. Parry showed that this verse is an example of scriptural poetry: “Working out (Greek, exergasia) is a figure where two or more lines deliberate or explain what was first said in line one … .
“Another example of working out exists in Helaman 1:31:
“‘And now, behold, the Lamanites could not retreat either way,
“‘neither on the north,
“‘nor on the south,
“‘nor on the east,
“‘nor on the west,
“‘for they were surrounded on every hand by the Nephites.’ (Helaman 1:31)
“The fact that the Lamanites were not able to ‘retreat either way’ is explained in the verses that follow” (Book of Mormon Text Reformatted, xxxiii–xxxiv).