Concerning the word “kindness” in English and even in other languages, Professor Cynthia Hallen offers a key to understanding the Lord’s relation to his covenant people. As she explains, “The earliest etymological meaning of kindness is the reconstructed Indo-European root gen-, meaning to give birth, beget; with derivatives referring to … procreation and to familial and tribal groups.” Several other terms in this chapter of Isaiah come from that same semantic root of kindness. They are deeply related to the gospel in the Book of Mormon and to the writings of Isaiah, including words such as gentiles, genteel, gentile, gentle, generation, genealogy, genesis, progenitor, nation, nativity, kindred, even the word king. All these words are linguistically related to the word “kindness,” and all those things have to do with the Lord’s covenant “kind,” “kinship,” and “kingly” relationships with His people. His “everlasting kindness” (22:8) is a truly merciful, binding, and eternally sealing.
Cynthia L. Hallen, “The Lord’s Covenant of Kindness: Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22,” in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds. (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998), 313–349.