their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children" and prophesies that the Lord would be merciful to the Lamanites because of their righteousness in this regard. He explained the Lord's standard of sexual purity as "that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them" unless directed by God via revelation for the purpose of "rais[ing] up seed unto me". In Jacob's third sermon, Jacob quotes an allegory of the scattering and gathering of Israel (see Parable of the Olive Tree), which he attributes to another prophet, Zenos. In it, what may have been perceived as the Lord's punishment is re-framed as the Lord's devoted effort to save His original covenant people, as well as to spread his covenant and the blessings that accompany it, to all other nations. Christ is seen as a mediator, calling on the Master of the Vineyard to forbear casting the wicked "into the fire", saying instead "Let us prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it a little longer". Lest the Lord of the Vineyard's mercy be questioned, the allegory later records that "the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?... Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned." Notable descendants According to the Book of Mormon, several important record keepers were direct descendants of Jacob as shown below: References Further reading John Hilton III, "Jacob's Textual Legacy", Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 22/2 (2013) Book of Mormon prophets