1 Nephi 19:13-15

In verse 13, Nephi continues to quote the ancient prophet Zenos. Zenos talked a little about what would happen on the isles of the sea with respect to the death of Jesus Christ. Now he speaks of those who were in Jerusalem at the same time. The people that were in Jerusalem at the time of the death of Jesus were the ones that allowed and wanted it to happen. More particularly the Jews. Zenos prophesies that they shall be scourged by all people. This shall happen because they turned their hearts aside from being receptive. They rejected the signs and wonders that were given in the heavens and by Jesus Christ. They rejected His power and glory. When they turned their hearts aside and would not believe, they despised Holy One of Israel. Their consequence for doing this is that they shall wander while they are in the flesh. They shall perish. They shall become a hiss and a byword. I looked up hiss and byword in the dictionary. For hiss, there were a couple of definitions that alluded to disapproval. I'm thinking that this is what was meant. The Jews would be disapproved by nations. Byword means a person or thing that is a notorious example or embodiment of something. It could be good or bad. The next phrase clarifies. Zenos says that they shall be hated among all nations. The Jew were notorious for being the people that everyone shunned and hated. However, after all this that will happen, Zenos testifies that if they start to listen and no more turn aside their hearts against the Holy One if Israel, then He will remember the covenants that He made with their fathers, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. In other words, they can be saved and be a part of all that was promised in the Abrahamic Covenant. What a marvelous promise. What a testimony of the power of the Atonement.