Syria appears in the Book of Mormon only within the chapters of Isaiah that Nephi quotes (2 Nephi 17–24), where it figures in Near Eastern affairs as a kingdom contending with Judah. In the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham and king of Judah, Rezin, king of Syria, joined Pekah, son of Remaliah and king of Israel, and marched against Jerusalem, but could not take it (2 Nephi 17:1). When the house of David learned that Syria had allied with Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel, Ahaz and his people were shaken (2 Nephi 17:2). Isaiah told Ahaz not to fear the anger of Rezin and the son of Remaliah (2 Nephi 17:4).
The two kings had taken counsel against Judah (2 Nephi 17:5), planning to invade it, breach it, and set the son of Tabeal on its throne (2 Nephi 17:6). Isaiah named Damascus as the head of Syria and Rezin as the head of Damascus, and foretold that Ephraim would be broken as a people within sixty-five years (2 Nephi 17:8). Syria and Rezin recur later in the same prophecy, as the people who rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son (2 Nephi 18:6) and as enemies the Lord will set against one another (2 Nephi 19:11).