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    The First Book of Nephi

    HIS RULE AND MINISTRY

    An account of Lehi, his wife Sariah, and his four sons, named beginning with the oldest Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Lord warns Lehi to leave the land of Jerusalem because he prophesies to the people about their iniquity and they attempt to kill him. He journeys for three days into the wilderness with his family. Nephi takes his brothers and returns to Jerusalem to get the record of the Jews. The account of their hardships. They marry Ishmael’s daughters. They take their families and depart into the wilderness. Their suffering and troubles in the wilderness. The path of their travels. They come to the ocean. Nephi’s brothers rebel against him. He proves them wrong and builds a ship. They name the place Bountiful. They cross the ocean to the promised land, etc. This is according to Nephi’s account — that is, I Nephi engraved this record.

    Chapter 1

  1. 1I Nephi was born to excellent parents. As a consequence, my father taught me from all his knowledge. I’ve experienced many hardships during my life, while at the same time I’ve been greatly blessed by the Lord. I gained great understanding of God’s goodness and mysteries. Therefore I’m making a record of the important events in my life. 2I’m writing in my father’s language, which consists of Jewish knowledge written using Egyptian script. 3I know the record I’m making is true, written in my own hand, and based on what I know and experienced.
  2. 4My father Lehi lived his whole life at Jerusalem. During the first year that Zedekiah king of Judah ruled, many prophets were warning that the people must repent or the great city of Jerusalem would be destroyed.
  3. 5So my father, when he was alone, prayed to the Lord with his whole heart for his people. 6As he prayed to the Lord, a pillar of fire descended and rested on a rock in front of him, and he saw and heard many things. What he saw and heard made him shake and tremble. 7Afterward, he returned to his house in Jerusalem and collapsed on his bed, overwhelmed by the Spirit and what he had seen. 8While overwhelmed by the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision. He saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting on His throne, surrounded by numberless rings of angels engaged in singing and praising Him. 9He also saw a person descending from heaven who was brighter than the midday sun. 10He then saw twelve others following Him, and they were brighter than the stars in the sky. 11They came down to the earth. The first one came and stood in front of my father and gave him a book and told him to read. 12As he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. 13He read: Woe, woe to Jerusalem, because I’ve seen your abominations! My father continued to read about Jerusalem; that it would be destroyed along with its inhabitants, many would be killed by the sword and many would be captured and taken to Babylon. 14After my father read and saw many great and surprising things, he cried out to the Lord: O Lord God Almighty, You’ve done such great and awe-inspiring things! Your throne is high in the heavens, and Your power, goodness, and mercy are over everyone living on earth. And because You are merciful, You won’t let those who come to You be lost. 15This is an example of how my father praised God. He rejoiced and his heart was full because of what the Lord showed him.
  4. 16Now I won’t provide a full account of what my father wrote since he’s written many things he saw in visions and dreams. He also wrote many prophecies that he told to his children. I’m not including a full account of those things. 17Instead, I’ll write an account of important events in my life. First, I’ll summarize my father’s record on these plates I made with my own hands. Then, following my father’s summarized record, I’ll write an account of my life.
  5. 18After the Lord showed my father Lehi the approaching destruction of Jerusalem and other astonishing things, he started prophesying about what he had seen and heard. 19However, telling them the truth about their wickedness and abominations resulted in the Jews mocking him. But when he also testified that he saw, heard, and read in a book that a Messiah was coming to redeem the world, 20that made the Jews furious with him, just like they were with former prophets, whom they had thrown out, stoned, and killed. So they tried to kill my father too. But the Lord’s tender mercies are shown to everyone He has chosen because of their faith. He uses His power to save their lives.
  6. 2Following this, the Lord spoke to my father in a dream and told him: You are blessed, Lehi, because of the things you’ve done. And because you’ve been faithful and declared the things I commanded you, they’re trying to kill you. 2In that dream, the Lord commanded my father to take his family and make his way into the wilderness. 3He obeyed the Lord’s word and did what the Lord commanded him.
  7. 4He departed into the wilderness. He left his house, the land he had inherited, and his gold, silver, and valuables, and didn’t take anything with him except his family, provisions, and tents, and left into the wilderness. 5He came down by the mountains near the Red Sea shore, journeying through the wilderness until reaching the Borders of the Red Sea. He traveled with his family, consisting of my mother Sariah, and older brothers, who were Laman, Lemuel, and Sam. 6After he traveled for three days across the wilderness, he pitched his tent in a valley by a river.
  8. 7Then he built a stone altar and made an offering to the Lord and gave thanks to the Lord our God. 8My father named the river Laman, and it flowed into the Red Sea. The valley was in the mountainous area near its mouth. 9When my father saw the river emptied into the source of the Red Sea, he said to Laman: I wish you would be like this river — always flowing into the source of all righteousness. 10He also said to Lemuel: I wish you would be like this valley — firm, resolute, and immovable in keeping the Lord’s commandments. 11He said this because Laman and Lemuel were stubborn. They complained about their father over many things: that he was a man carried away by his imagination, and had taken them away from Jerusalem, making them leave their land, gold, silver, and valuables, only to die in the wilderness. They said he did this because of his foolish, delusional thinking. 12This is how Laman and Lemuel, the oldest children, complained about their father. They complained because they didn’t understand how the God who created them deals with mankind. 13They also didn’t believe the great city of Jerusalem could be destroyed like the prophets were saying. They were like the Jerusalem Jews who tried to kill my father. 14But my father was inspired by the Spirit, speaking to them with such power in the valley of Lemuel that they shook with fear before him. He silenced them and they didn’t dare speak against him. Therefore they submitted to him. 15And my father occupied a tent.
  9. 16Since I was very young — but large in build — and had a strong desire to know about God’s mysteries, I cried to the Lord in prayer. He influenced me and softened my heart letting me believe everything my father had said. As a result, I didn’t rebel against him like my brothers. 17And I talked to Sam, telling him what the Lord had revealed to me by His Holy Spirit. And he believed my words. 18But Laman and Lemuel refused to listen to me. Because their hard-heartedness troubled me, I cried to the Lord in prayer for them. 19And the Lord replied: You are blessed, Nephi, because of your faith, having honestly approached Me with a humble heart. 20And to the degree you keep My commandments, you will prosper and be led to a promised land, one that I’ve prepared for you, a specially chosen land, better than all other places on earth. 21And to the extent your brothers rebel against you, they’ll be cut off from the presence of the Lord. 22And to the degree you keep My commandments, you will be made a ruler and teacher over them. 23When they rebel against Me, I’ll curse them with a severe curse, and they won’t have any power over your descendants unless they also rebel against Me. 24And if your descendants rebel against Me, your brothers’ descendants will afflict your descendants to help them remember.
  10. 3Then I returned from speaking with the Lord to my father’s tent. 2And he said to me: I’ve had a dream where the Lord commanded you and your brothers to return to Jerusalem. 3The assignment is to go to Laban who has the record of the Jews and my forefathers’ genealogy engraved on brass plates. 4The Lord has commanded for you and your brothers to go to Laban’s house, retrieve the records, and bring them down here in the wilderness. 5Your brothers are complaining, saying it’s a difficult thing I’ve asked them to do. But I haven’t asked them to do it. To the contrary, it’s a commandment from the Lord. 6So go, my son, and you’ll be blessed by the Lord because you haven’t complained. 7Then I told my father: I’ll go and do what the Lord has commanded because I know the Lord doesn’t give people any commandments without preparing a way for them to accomplish what He commands to be done. 8When my father heard this, he was very pleased since he could tell my understanding came from the Lord.
  11. 9So my brothers and I returned with our tents back to Jerusalem. 10And when we arrived, we discussed among ourselves 11and drew lots for who was to go to Laban’s house. The lot fell on Laman. So he went to Laban’s house and talked with him inside. 12He asked Laban for the records engraved on the brass plates, which contained my father’s genealogy. 13But Laban got angry and threw him out, refusing to give him the records. He accused him: You’re a robber! I’m going to kill you! 14But Laman ran away and told us what Laban had done. As a result, we were very discouraged, and my brothers were about to return to my father in the wilderness.
  12. 15But I told them: As surely as the Lord lives and we live, we won’t return to our father in the wilderness until we’ve accomplished what the Lord has commanded us to do. 16Therefore let’s be faithful in keeping the Lord’s commandments. Let’s go down to our father’s land, because he left gold, silver, and valuables there. And he left everything because of the Lord’s commandments. 17For he knows Jerusalem will be destroyed because of the people’s wickedness, 18because they’ve rejected the words of the prophets. Therefore if our father were to live in the land after having been commanded to flee, he would lose his life too; that being so, he had to flee from the place. 19And it’s God’s wise plan for us to get these records so we can continue to keep our forefathers’ language for our children 20and preserve the words spoken by all the holy prophets, which have been given to them by the Spirit and power of God, containing everything from when the world began to the present time. 21With these words I persuaded my brothers to be faithful in keeping God’s commandments.
  13. 22So we went down to our land and gathered our gold, silver, and valuables. 23After gathering them, we went back up to Laban’s house. 24We came to see Laban and asked him to give us the records written on the brass plates in exchange for our gold, silver, and valuables. 25When he saw our considerable possessions, he wanted to have them so much that he drove us out by force and sent his servants to kill us so he could steal our property. 26We fled from Laban’s servants and were compelled to drop our possessions, and Laban took them.
  14. 27We escaped into the wilderness where we hid in a cave, and Laban’s servants didn’t catch us. 28Laman was angry with me, and with my father as well — and so was Lemuel, since he listened to Laman. As a result, Laman and Lemuel blamed us, their younger brothers, and they beat us with a club. 29As they were hitting us, an angel of the Lord appeared before them and asked: Why are you hitting your younger brother with a club? Don’t you realize that because of your iniquities the Lord has chosen him to be your leader? You must return to Jerusalem, and the Lord will hand Laban over to you. 30After the angel said this to us, he left. 31After the angel left, Laman and Lemuel again began to complain: How is it possible the Lord will hand Laban over to us? He’s a powerful man and can command fifty. In fact, he can kill fifty, so why not us?
  15. 4I said to my brothers: Let’s go back up to Jerusalem and be faithful in keeping the Lord’s commandments. He’s more powerful than the whole earth, so why not more powerful than Laban and his fifty? Or even than his tens of thousands? 2So, let’s go back there. Let’s be strong like Moses, because he actually spoke to the waters of the Red Sea and they divided to the right and left, and our fathers came through on dry ground out of slavery, and Pharaoh’s armies followed and were drowned in the Red Sea. 3Now you know this is true. And you also know an angel has spoken to you. So why do you doubt? Let’s go back. The Lord can protect us, just like our ancestors, and destroy Laban, just like the Egyptians.
  16. 4When I said this, they were still very angry and kept complaining. Nevertheless, they followed me until we reached the wall of Jerusalem. 5It was dark and I had them hide outside the wall. After they concealed themselves, I crept into the city and went toward Laban’s house. 6I was led by the Spirit, not knowing in advance what I would do. 7Nevertheless, I continued on. As I approached Laban’s house, I saw a man on the ground ahead of me who was drunk with wine. 8When I approached him, I saw it was Laban. 9I noticed his sword and removed it from its sheath. Its hilt was made of pure gold and the design was of superior quality. The blade was made from the most expensive steel.
  17. 10And the Spirit urged me to kill Laban. But I said in my heart: I’ve never killed anyone. So I hesitated and drew back, not wanting to kill him. 11But the Spirit told me again: The Lord has handed him over to you. And I was also aware he had tried to kill me, and that he refused to listen to and follow the Lord’s commandments, and he had also taken our property. 12Then the Spirit told me again: Kill him — the Lord has handed him over to you. 13The Lord kills the wicked to accomplish His righteous purposes. It’s better for one man to lose his life than for a nation to lose their way and fall into unbelief. 14When I had heard these words, I remembered the words the Lord had spoken to me in the wilderness: To the degree your descendants keep My commandments, they’ll prosper in the promised land. 15And I also considered that they couldn’t keep the Lord’s commandments of the Law of Moses unless they had the Law. 16And I knew that the Law was engraved on the brass plates. 17Furthermore, I knew the Lord had handed Laban over to me so I could get the records as He commanded. 18So I obeyed the Spirit’s voice, took Laban by the hair of his head, and struck his head with his own sword.
  18. 19After I had cracked his head with his sword, I took Laban’s clothes and put them on. I also secured his armor around my waist. 20After doing this, I went to Laban’s treasury. As I was going there, I saw Laban’s servant who had the treasury keys, and imitating Laban’s voice I ordered him to go with me into the treasury. 21He believed me to be his master Laban since he saw the clothes and the sword fastened around my waist. 22He talked to me about the Jewish elders, knowing his master had been out with them at night. 23And I spoke to him as if I were Laban 24and told him I was going to carry the engravings on the brass plates to my older brothers who were outside the walls. 25I also ordered him to follow me. 26He thought I referred to church elders and I really was Laban whom I had killed, so he followed me. 27He talked to me many times about the Jewish elders as I went to my brothers outside the city wall.
  19. 28When Laman saw me, he was very scared, and so were Lemuel and Sam. They ran away because they thought I was Laban and he had killed me and was coming to kill them too. 29I called after them and they heard me; so they stopped running away. 30When Laban’s servant saw my brothers, he began to shake with fear and was about to run and return to Jerusalem. 31Because I have a large build and had received great strength from the Lord, I grabbed Laban’s servant and held him so he couldn’t run away.
  20. 32I told him that if he would agree with my words, as surely as the Lord lives and I live, if he would agree with what we said, we would spare his life. 33And I took an oath that he didn’t need to be afraid; he would be a free person like we were if he was willing to go down with us into the wilderness. 34I also told him: The Lord has certainly commanded us to do this. So shouldn’t we be diligent in keeping the Lord’s commandment? Therefore if you’re willing to go down into the wilderness to my father, you’ll have a place with us. 35Then Zoram — which was the servant’s name — was satisfied with what I said and promised to go down into the wilderness to our father. He also made an oath he would stay with us from then on. 36Now we wanted him to stay with us so the Jews wouldn’t know about our sudden departure into the wilderness to follow and kill us. 37But once Zoram took an oath, our worries about him ended. 38So we took the brass plates and Laban’s servant and went into the wilderness, traveling to our father’s tent.
  21. 5After we came to our father in the wilderness, he was overjoyed. And my mother Sariah was extremely glad because she had actually mourned for us, 2since she thought we died in the wilderness. She had also complained against my father, telling him he was a dreamer, saying: You’ve led us out from our own land, and my sons are dead, and we’re going to die in the wilderness. 3My mother complained like this against my father. 4And my father told her: I know I’m a man of visions. However, if I hadn’t seen the things of God in a vision, I wouldn’t have known God’s goodness but would have stayed at Jerusalem and lost my life with my people. 5But I’ve obtained a promised land, and I rejoice in that. I know the Lord will protect my sons from Laban and bring them back down to us in the wilderness. 6This was how my father Lehi comforted my mother Sariah about us while we went through the wilderness up to Jerusalem to get the record of the Jews. 7When we had returned to my father’s tent, their joy was complete and my mother was comforted. 8She said: Now I know for sure the Lord has commanded my husband to escape into the wilderness. I also know for certain the Lord has protected my sons and rescued them from Laban and given them power so they were able to accomplish what He had commanded them to do. These were her new remarks.
  22. 9They were very glad and offered sacrifice and burnt offerings to the Lord and gave thanks to the God of Israel. 10After thanking the God of Israel, my father Lehi took the records engraved on the brass plates and carefully studied them from the beginning. 11He saw they contained the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the world’s creation and of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents; 12and a record of the Jews from the beginning down to the start of the rule of Zedekiah, king of Judah; 13and the prophecies of the holy prophets from the beginning, all the way up to the start of Zedekiah’s rule; and many prophecies of Jeremiah. 14My father Lehi also found his ancestors’ genealogy on the brass plates; therefore he knew he was a descendant of Joseph, that same Joseph who was Jacob’s son, who was sold into Egypt and kept safe by the hand of the Lord so that he could keep his father and his whole household from dying of starvation. 15They had also been saved from slavery and escaped from Egypt by that same God who kept them alive. 16This was how my father discovered his ancestors’ genealogy. Laban was a descendant of Joseph too; therefore he and his forefathers had kept the records. 17When my father saw all these things, he was filled with the Spirit and began to prophesy about his descendants: 18that these brass plates would go to all nations, tribes, languages, and people who came from his descendants. 19Therefore he said these brass plates would never be lost or obscured any more by time. And he prophesied many things about his descendants.
  23. 20Up to this point, my father and I had kept the commandments the Lord had given us. 21We had obtained the records the Lord had commanded us to obtain and had studied them carefully, finding they were valuable and important for us so that we could retain the Lord’s commandments for our children. 22That being the case, it was God’s wisdom for us to take them with us as we traveled in the wilderness to the promised land.

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