The Prophet Zenos’ Allegory of the Olive Tree

Written by the ancient Josephite prophet Zenos, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, the following allegory of an olive tree predicts Israel’s division into three branches separated from their mother tree that God would plant in different parts of the world, as well as Israel’s latter-day reunification. The allegory was preserved in a scriptural record kept on brass plates by descendants of Joseph, who carried it out of Jerusalem with a party of Jewish émigrés traveling to the American continent around 600 B.C. It appears in Jacob 5:1–77 in the Book of Mormon.