The Book of Jacob is the third book of the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

. Its full title is The Book of Jacob: The Brother of Nephi. According to the text, it was written by the ancient prophet

Prophet

In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...

 Jacob, brother of the prophet Nephi

Nephi

According to the Book of Mormon, Nephi was the son of Lehi, a prophet, founder of the Nephite people, and author of the first two books of the Book of Mormon, First and Second Nephi.- Early life :Nephi was the fourth of six sons of Lehi and Sariah...

, believed to have lived during the 6th century BC.

While this book contains some history of the Nephite

Nephite

According to the Book of Mormon, a Nephite is a member of one of the four main groups of settlers of the ancient Americas. The other three groups are the Lamanites, Jaredites and Mulekites. In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites were a group of people descended from or associated with Nephi, the...

s, including the death of Nephi, it is mainly a record of Jacob's preachings to his people. Chapter 5 contains The Parable of the Olive Tree

Parable of the Olive Tree

The Parable of the Olive Tree is a complex extended allegory recounted in Chapter 5 of the Book of Jacob, the third book of the Book of Mormon. Jacob notes that his readers would know the parable from the works of the prophet Zenos, but these works are now lost, so modern readers only know the...

, a lengthy allegory of the scattering and gathering of Israel, comparing the Israelites and gentiles to tame and wild olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

trees, respectively.

External links

• The Book of Mormon: The Book of Jacob
• Book of Jacob by Clyde J. Williams