Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding. Therefore, ye have not been wise. Therefore, what teach ye this people?

Mosaic chapter 12, verse 27.

Hey listeners, this is Nick from Book of Mormon Central. And today's podcast addresses the question,

what does it mean to apply your heart to understanding?

When Abinidad was arraigned before the priests of Noah, they asked him to interpret Isaiah

chapter 52 verses 7 through 10. As John W. Welch and others have noted, this was likely part of an attempt to accuse Abinidad of false prophecy,

since his dire warning of the impending consequences of sin seemed to be the opposite of the glad tidings Isaiah described as the message of true prophets.

Abinidae began his response by accusing the priests of not properly understanding prophetic teaching.

You have not applied your hearts to understanding, Abinadai explained,

and therefore ye have not been wise.

Therefore, what teach ye this people?

Abinadai's words echo several passages in ancient Israel's wisdom literature

that speak of the heart being applied in order

to gain wisdom, knowledge, or understanding. Thus the psalmist writes of a desire to apply our

hearts unto wisdom, and the preacher says, I applied mine heart to know and to search, and to seek

out wisdom. The phrase is used most often in Proverbs, where it appears

three times, in each instance as part of an introductory formula, calling pupils to prepare

themselves to receive instruction. Proverbs chapter 22 verse 17, for instance, begins a lengthy

unit referred to as words of the wise, with the call to

hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. Proverbs chapter 23,

verse 12, begins a subsection within that unit with another exhortation to apply thine heart

unto instruction and thine ears unto the words of knowledge. Abedadadai's

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