While the Book of Mormon draws heavily from Isaiah, most contemporary scholars would not believe all of the chapters quoted were available to the Nephite writers.

In the Book of Mormon, Lehi and his family leave Jerusalem around 600 B.C., taking with them some "brass plates" containing the writings of Hebrew prophets up to that time. It is natural that Isaiah, who wrote prior to 700 B.C., would be included. However, in his writings Nephi quotes chapters of Isaiah which scholars generally conclude were written after 586 B.C., during the Babylonian exile and after Nephi had left for America. Isaiah 48–49 and parts of 50–52, and 55 are quoted with some changes in 1 Nephi 20–22 and 2 Nephi 6–9, and Isaiah 53–54 is partially quoted in Mosiah 14 and 3 Nephi 22.