- 16When I had finished speaking with my brothers they told me: You’ve declared harsh things to us, more than we can stand. 2I replied that I knew I had spoken blunt things against the wicked because it’s the truth. But I’ve justified the righteous, testifying they would be lifted up on the last day. Therefore the truth wounds the guilty since it cuts them to the core. 3Now, my brothers, if you were righteous and willing to listen and pay careful attention to the truth in order to live righteously before God, you wouldn’t complain because of the truth and say: You speak harsh things against us. 4Then I humbly urged my brothers to keep the Lord’s commandments. 5And they humbled themselves before the Lord, and that gave me joy and great hopes for them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness. 6All this was said and done as my father lived in a tent in the valley he called Lemuel.
- 7And I married one of Ishmael’s daughters, and my brothers married his other daughters also, and Zoram married his oldest daughter. 8My father had in this way fulfilled all the Lord’s commandments given to him. And I also had been greatly blessed by the Lord.
- 9Then the Lord’s voice spoke to my father at night and commanded him to travel into the wilderness the next day. 10When my father got up in the morning and went to the tent door, to his great astonishment he saw a round object of detailed workmanship on the ground, made of fine brass. Inside the ball were two pins, and one of them pointed where we were to go in the wilderness.
- 11We gathered everything we needed to take into the wilderness and the rest of the provisions the Lord provided for us. And we took seeds of every kind that we were able to bring into the wilderness.
- 12So we took our tents and set out into the wilderness across the Laman River. 13We traveled for four days in nearly a south-southeast direction. Then we pitched our tents again and named the place Shazer.
- 14Following that, we took our bows and arrows and went into the wilderness to hunt game for our families. After we had obtained food, we returned to them in the wilderness at Shazer. Then we traveled again in the wilderness, following the same direction, keeping to the most fertile parts of the wilderness in the mountainous area near the Red Sea. 15We traveled for many days, killing food along the way with our bows, arrows, stones, and slings. 16And we followed the directions the ball gave which guided us through the more fertile parts of the wilderness.
- 17After we had traveled many days, we pitched our tents again so we could rest and get food for our families. 18But as I went out to hunt, I broke my bow, which was made of sturdy steel. After I broke my bow, my brothers were angry with me because its loss meant we couldn’t get food. 19So we returned without food to our families. And since everyone was exhausted because of our travels, they suffered greatly because of the lack of food. 20And Laman, Lemuel, and Ishmael’s sons began to complain a great deal because of their suffering and difficulties in the wilderness. My father also began to complain against the Lord his God; indeed, they were all very unhappy, to the point they complained against the Lord. 21I was mocked and shamed by my brothers because my bow had broken and their bows had lost their recoil. Therefore it became dangerous, so much so we faced starvation. 22And I talked to my brothers a great deal, because they had hardened their hearts again, to the point of complaining against the Lord who is God. 23I then made a wooden bow and an arrow from a straight stick, arming myself with a bow, arrow, sling, and stones. Then I asked my father: Where should I go to find game? 24In turn, he asked the Lord, because they had humbled themselves because of my words, since I had said many things to them from my heart. 25And the Lord’s voice came to my father, and he was rebuked for complaining against the Lord, making him regret deeply his error.
- 26The Lord’s voice told him: Look on the ball and observe what is written. 27When my father saw the things written on the ball, he became afraid and trembled a great deal, and so did my brothers and Ishmael’s sons and our wives. 28I realized the pointers in the ball worked according to the faith, diligence, and attention we gave them. 29And a new writing, plain to be read, was written on them, letting me understand the Lord’s ways. It was written and changed from time to time according to the faith and diligence we gave to it. We see from this that the Lord can accomplish great things by ordinary means. 30I then climbed the mountain according to the directions given on the ball. 31And I harvested game animals, and I obtained food for our families. 32Then I returned to our tents, carrying the animals I harvested. When they saw that I brought food, they were overjoyed. And they humbled themselves before the Lord and gave thanks to Him.
- 33Then we traveled again, in nearly the same direction as in the beginning. After we had traveled for many days, we again pitched our tents to stay for a while.
- 34And Ishmael died and was buried in the place called Nahom. 35Ishmael’s daughters mourned a great deal because of the loss of their father and because of their hardships in the wilderness. They complained about my father because he had brought them from Jerusalem, saying: Our father is dead, and we’ve wandered a long way into the wilderness and we’ve endured many difficulties: hunger, thirst, and fatigue. And after all this suffering we’re going to die from hunger in the wilderness. 36These were their complaints about my father and me. They wanted to return home to Jerusalem. 37Then Laman said to Lemuel and Ishmael’s sons: Let’s kill our father and our brother Nephi, who’s taken it upon himself to be our ruler and teacher, instead of us, his older brothers. 38He says the Lord has talked with him and angels have ministered to him. But we know he’s lying to us. He tells us this and invents many things by his clever tricks to mislead us, perhaps planning to take us to some remote, uninhabited land. And after he’s taken us there, he’s come up with a plan to make himself a king and ruler over us, so he can force us to submit to his will and control. This was how my brother Laman got them angry. 39But the Lord was with us — His voice came and said many words to them and chastised them severely. After being rebuked by the Lord, they turned away their anger and repented of their sins, and the Lord blessed us again with food, letting us survive.
- 17We resumed our journey in the wilderness, traveling nearly eastward from then on. We went through many hardships in the journey, and our women gave birth to children in the wilderness. 2But the Lord’s blessings were so great that while we lived on raw meat in the wilderness, our women produced plenty of milk for their children and were strong, like the men. So they began to bear their journey without complaint.
- 3Accordingly, we see God’s commandments are certain to be fulfilled, and if people keep God’s commandments, He nourishes and strengthens them and provides ways and means so they can accomplish what He’s commanded them. That being the case, He provided ways and means for us as we traveled in the wilderness.
- 4We lived in the wilderness for many years, eight in total. 5Then we came to the land we named Bountiful because it had plenty of fruit and wild honey. The Lord prepared all these things so we wouldn’t perish. We saw the sea, which we called Irreantum (which means many waters).
- 6We pitched our tents by the seashore. And despite having suffered many hardships and difficulties, so many we can’t write all of them down, we were overjoyed when we came to the seashore. And we named the place Bountiful because it was fruitful.
- 7After I had been in the land of Bountiful for many days, the Lord’s voice came to me, saying: Get up and climb the mountain. So I got up and climbed the mountain and prayed to the Lord. 8Then the Lord told me: You must build a ship in the way I’ll show you so I can carry your people across the sea. 9And I asked: Lord, where should I go to find iron ore to melt so I can make tools to build the ship in the way you’ve shown me? 10In response, the Lord told me where to go to find ore so I could make tools.
- 11I then made a pair of bellows from animal skins with which to blow the fire. And after I had made a pair of bellows, I struck two stones together to make fire. 12Up to that point, the Lord hadn’t allowed us to make many fires as we traveled in the wilderness. He said: I’ll keep your food from spoiling, and you will not need to cook it. 13I will also be your light in the wilderness and prepare the way in front of you if you keep My commandments. So to the degree you keep My commandments, you’ll be led toward the promised land. And you’ll know that you’re led by Me. 14The Lord also said: After you’ve arrived at the promised land, you will know that I the Lord am God, that I saved you from destruction and brought you out of the land of Jerusalem. 15So I made a great effort to keep the Lord’s commandments and urged my brothers to be faithful and diligent. 16I made tools from the ore that I melted from the rock. 17When my brothers saw I was preparing to build a ship, they began to mock me, saying: Our brother’s a fool! He thinks he can build a ship! He also thinks he can cross this great sea. 18These were some of my brothers’ complaints about what I was doing, and they didn’t want to work, since they didn’t believe I could build a ship, and they refused to believe I was led by the Lord.
- 19Now I was deeply distressed because of how stubborn they were. When they saw I began to be discouraged, they were delighted, so much so that they gloated over me, saying: We knew you couldn’t build a ship, since we knew you lacked good sense; you’ll never finish such a huge task. 20You’re like our father, persuaded by his foolish, deluded thinking. He’s taken us from the land of Jerusalem, and we’ve wandered in the wilderness these many years. And our women have struggled to travel while pregnant, and they’ve had children in the wilderness and suffered everything but death. It would have been better for them to have died before they left Jerusalem than to have endured these difficulties. 21We’ve undergone hardships all these years in the wilderness when we could have enjoyed our possessions and property, and we would have been happy. 22We know the people in the land of Jerusalem were righteous, since they keep the Lord’s statutes and judgments and all His commandments according to the Law of Moses; so we know they’re a righteous people. But our father has judged them and taken us from home because we were willing to listen to him; and our brother is like him. These were my brothers’ complaints about us.
- 23I asked them: Do you believe our ancestors, the children of Israel, would have been freed from slavery to the Egyptians if they hadn’t listened to the Lord’s words? 24Do you think they would have left their bondage if the Lord hadn’t commanded Moses to free them? 25Now you know the children of Israel were enslaved and you know they were forced to do hard work. So you know it was obviously a good thing for them to be freed from slavery. 26Now you know Moses was directed by the Lord to do that great and miraculous thing. And you know the waters of the Red Sea were divided to the right and left by his word and they passed through on dry ground. 27But you know the Egyptians — Pharaoh’s armed forces — drowned in the Red Sea. 28And you also know they were fed with manna in the wilderness, 29and Moses, through his word according to God’s power which was in him, struck the rock and water came out, so that the children of Israel could quench their thirst. 30And despite being led — with the Lord their God, their Redeemer, going ahead of them, leading them by day, giving light to them by night, and doing everything for them that was necessary for people to receive — they hardened their hearts, refused to understand, and complained against Moses and against the true and living God. 31And according to His word He destroyed them, and according to His word He led them, and according to His word He did everything for them. And nothing was done except by His word. 32After they had crossed the Jordan River, He made them so powerful that they were able to drive out the inhabitants of the land and scatter them until they were gone.
- 33Do you think the prior inhabitants of the promised land who were driven out by our ancestors were righteous? No, they were not. 34Do you think that if those prior inhabitants had been righteous, our ancestors could have driven them out? No, our ancestors couldn’t have. 35The Lord values all mankind equally; however, those who are righteous are blessed by God. But that nation rejected all of God’s words; they were ripe in iniquity and God’s full wrath was imposed upon them. So the Lord cursed the land against them and blessed it for our ancestors. He cursed it, resulting in their destruction, and He blessed it for our ancestors, to give them possession of it.
- 36The Lord has created the earth to be inhabited, and He’s created His children to inhabit it. 37He raises up a righteous nation and destroys the wicked nations. 38He leads the righteous to favorable lands and He destroys the wicked, cursing the land against them because of their sins. 39He rules high in the heavens because it’s His throne, and this earth is His footrest. 40He loves those who want Him to be their God. He loved our fathers and covenanted with them — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — and remembered the covenants He had made; so He freed their children out of Egypt. 41And He disciplined them in the wilderness with His rod because they hardened their hearts, just like you have. The Lord imposed afflictions because of their iniquity. He sent flying fiery serpents among them. But after they were bitten, He prepared a way to heal them. It required them to look. But because the cure was so simple, many died. 42They hardened their hearts from time to time and dishonored Moses and also God. Still, you know they were led by His unequaled power into the promised land.
- 43After all these things, they’ve now become wicked, almost completely ripe in wickedness. For all I know, they’re now about to be destroyed; and it’s certain they’ll be destroyed except for only a few who will be taken away as slaves. 44Because of this, the Lord commanded our father to depart into the wilderness. The Jews also tried to kill him. And you have too. So you are murderers in your hearts, and you are like them. 45You’re quick to commit iniquity but slow to remember the Lord who is God. You’ve seen an angel and he spoke to you. You’ve heard His voice from time to time, and He’s spoken to you in a quiet, gentle voice; but you were no longer capable of feeling and you couldn’t feel His words. So He’s spoken to you in a thundering voice that made the earth shake as if it would split in two. 46You also know that by His all-powerful word He can make the earth pass away. You know that by His word He can level mountains and break apart the stable ground. Then how can you be so hard in your hearts? 47My soul suffers because of you, and my heart aches. I’m afraid you’ll be rejected forever. I’m full of the Spirit of God, so much so that I’ve become exhausted.
- 48When I said this, they got angry with me and wanted to throw me into the deep sea. As they approached me, I said: In the name of the Almighty God, I command you not to touch me. God’s power fills every part of my frame, and if either of you put your hands on me, you’ll shrivel up like a dried weed. You’re nothing before God’s power, and God will strike you down. 49Then I warned them not to complain against their father or refuse to work with me anymore, since God had commanded me to build a ship. 50I told them: Anything God has commanded me to do, I can do. If He were to command me to say to this water: Become earth! — then it would become earth. Whatever I say, if God commands it, it will happen. 51Now if the Lord has such great power and has performed so many miracles among mankind, then why can’t He teach me how to build a ship? 52I told my brothers many things that silenced them and they were unable to argue with me. They also didn’t resist or dare lay hands on me or even touch me with their finger for many days. The Spirit of God affected them so powerfully that they were afraid of withering away by touching me.
- 53Then the Lord said to me: Reach out your hand to touch your brothers. They won’t shrivel and dry up from your touch, but I the Lord will shock them. And I’ll do this to let them know I’m the Lord who is God. 54So I stretched out my hand to my brothers and they didn’t shrivel and dry up, but the Lord shocked them, just as He said He would. 55Then they said: We know for sure that the Lord is with you because we know His power has shocked us. Then they fell down in front of me and were about to worship me, but I wouldn’t let them do it, saying: I’m your brother, and your younger brother at that. Therefore worship the Lord who is God and honor your father and mother so your days will be long in the land the Lord your God will give you.
- 18So they worshiped the Lord and began to work with me, and we produced well-crafted timbers. And the Lord showed me from time to time how to shape the ship’s timbers. 2Now I didn’t pattern the timbers in a way followed by men, and I didn’t build the ship in the way that shipbuilders would do it either, but I built it following the way the Lord showed me; as a result, it wasn’t a typical man-made ship.
- 3And I often went to the mountain, and I prayed to the Lord frequently; therefore He showed me great things.
- 4After I completed the ship following the Lord’s instructions, my brothers saw it was good and its workmanship was excellent; so they humbled themselves again before the Lord.
- 5The Lord’s voice then spoke to my father saying we were to get ready and embark. 6So the following day, after we had prepared everything — plenty of fruit and meat from the wilderness, large quantities of honey and provisions, obeying what the Lord commanded us to prepare — we entered the ship with all our cargo, seeds, and everything we brought with us, every one in order of their age. Then we embarked with our wives and children. 7Now my father had had two sons in the wilderness: the older one was named Jacob and the younger Joseph.
- 8After we all entered the ship — bringing with us supplies and other things we had been commanded to bring — we set out to sea and were driven before the wind toward the promised land.
- 9After we sailed for many days, my brothers and Ishmael’s sons and their wives began to indulge in feasting and drinking, to such an extent they started to dance, sing, and become disrespectful, until they forgot the power that brought them there; indeed, they became extremely insolent. 10I became very afraid the Lord would be angry with us and strike us down because of our iniquity, and we would all drown in the sea. So I tried to sober them up by talking to them. But they got angry with me, saying: We refuse to have our younger brother control us.
- 11Then Laman and Lemuel took me, tied me up with ropes, and were otherwise brutal to me. Nevertheless, the Lord allowed it to happen so He could remind us of His ability to accomplish everything He said warning the wicked. 12After they tied me up and I couldn’t move, the compass the Lord had prepared stopped working. 13As a result, they didn’t know where to steer the ship. So a strong, violent storm arose, and we were driven backward on the water for three days. They became very afraid they would be drowned in the sea. Nevertheless, they didn’t untie me. 14The storm became very severe on the fourth day driving us back, 15and we were about to sink into the depths of the sea. After we were driven backward for four days, my brothers realized God’s judgments were upon them, and that they would die unless they repented of their iniquities. So they came to me and untied the ropes on my wrists. They had swollen a great deal and my ankles were also very swollen; it was extremely painful. 16Still, I looked to God and praised Him all day long; I didn’t complain against the Lord because of my difficulties.
- 17Now my father Lehi had been saying many things to them and to Ishmael’s sons, but they just threatened anyone who spoke on my behalf. And since my parents were old and had suffered many hardships over their children, they were physically sick and bedridden. 18Because of their suffering and heartbreak over my brothers’ iniquity, they were almost taken from this life to meet God. Their gray hair was about to be brought down to return to dust; they were at the point of being laid with sorrow into a watery grave. 19Likewise Jacob and Joseph, since they were young and still breastfeeding, were impacted by their mother’s suffering. And my wife, with her tears and prayers, along with my children, failed to soften my brothers’ hearts and get them to untie me. 20Nothing except for God’s power, threatening them with destruction, was able to soften their hearts. Therefore when they saw they were about to sink into the depths of the sea, they repented of what they had done, and they untied me.
- 21After they untied me, I took the compass and it directed us to whatever place I needed. I prayed to the Lord, and after I prayed, the winds and storm stopped and there was a great calm. 22Then I guided the ship so we sailed again toward the promised land. 23After we had sailed for many days, we arrived at the promised land. We disembarked, pitched our tents, and called it the promised land.
- 24We began to till the earth and plant seeds. We put all the seeds we had brought from the land of Jerusalem in the ground and they grew extremely well; so we were blessed abundantly. 25As we explored the wilderness, we found there were forest animals of every kind: cows, oxen, donkeys, horses, goats, wild goats, and all kinds of wild animals for human use. We also found a variety of precious metals: gold, silver, and copper.
- 19I made metal plates to engrave a record of my people in order to obey the Lord’s command. I engraved my father’s record, our travels in the wilderness, and my father’s prophecies on the plates I made. I’ve also engraved many of my own prophecies on them. 2I didn’t know when I made them that the Lord would later command me to make these plates. Therefore my father’s record, his ancestors’ genealogy, and most of our activities in the wilderness are engraved on the first plates I mentioned. So the details of what happened before I made these plates are actually written on the first plates.
- 3After I was commanded to make these plates, I received another commandment that the ministry and prophecies — the most important parts of them — were to be written on these plates, and what is written was to be kept to instruct my people, who would inhabit the land, and for other wise purposes known to the Lord. 4Therefore I made a record on the other plates, which gives a more complete account of my people’s wars, struggles, and periods of destruction. I’ve done this and commanded my people to do this after I was gone and to hand these plates down from one generation to another, or from one prophet to another, until the Lord gave them further commandments. 5I’ll later give an account of my making these plates. So that’s how I’ll proceed. I’m doing this to preserve for my people a record of the more sacred things. 6However, I haven’t written anything on plates unless I think it’s sacred. If I make mistakes, so did others long ago. I don’t wish to excuse myself because of other men, but I would excuse myself because of the weaknesses of human nature.
- 7What some people consider very valuable, both to the body and spirit, others disregard and trample under their feet. People even trample underfoot the very God of Israel. I say trample underfoot, but I should use other words: they regard Him as unimportant and don’t hearken to His counsels. 8According to the angel’s words, He will come 600 years after my father left Jerusalem. 9And the world, because of their iniquity, will judge Him to be of no worth. Therefore they’ll whip Him, and He’ll submit to it; they’ll strike Him, and He’ll submit to it; and they’ll spit on Him, and He’ll submit to it, because of His loving-kindness and long-suffering toward mankind. 10The God who led our fathers out of Egypt and from slavery, who kept them alive in the wilderness, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob will give Himself up as a man into the hands of wicked men, according to the words of the angel. He’ll be lifted up, according to the words of Zenoch; to be crucified, according to the words of Neum; and to be buried in a sepulcher, according to the words of Zenos. He also spoke about the three days of darkness — which was to be a sign of His death given to those who would be living on the islands of the sea, more particularly given to those who are from the house of Israel.
- 11This is what the prophet said: The Lord God will certainly visit all of the house of Israel at that day, some with His voice because of their righteousness, to their great joy and salvation, and others with the thunder and lightning of His power: by storm, fire, smoke, mist of darkness, the earth splitting apart, and mountains raised up. 12All these things will certainly happen, said the prophet Zenos, and earth’s bedrock, or solid ground, will break apart. Because of the groaning of the earth, many kings living on the islands of the sea will be so affected by the Spirit of God they’ll cry out: The God of nature suffers. 13The prophet said: As for those at Jerusalem, because they crucified the God of Israel and closed their hearts, rejecting the signs, miracles, and the power and glory of the God of Israel, they’ll become hated and persecuted. 14Because they’ve turned their hearts aside, said the prophet, and treated the Holy One of Israel with contempt, their aimless path will lead to destruction, scorning, ridicule, and hatred from all nations. 15Nevertheless, the prophet said when the time comes that they don’t turn their hearts aside anymore against the Holy One of Israel, He’ll remember the covenants He made to their fathers. 16And then He’ll remember those who live on the islands of the sea. According to the words of the prophet Zenos, the Lord said: I’ll gather in all the people who are from the house of Israel, from the four quarters of the earth. 17The whole earth will see the Lord’s salvation and people of every nation, tribe, and language will be blessed.
- 18I have written these things to my people hoping to persuade them to remember the Lord their Redeemer. 19Therefore I speak to all the house of Israel, if they read these things. 20For I have overwhelming impressions from the spirit about those who live at Jerusalem; it makes all my joints weak. Because if the Lord wasn’t merciful to warn me about these judgments, just as He had former prophets, I would have died alongside them. 21He certainly showed former prophets everything about them. He also showed prophets about us; so we read about us in what’s written on the brass plates.
Chapter 5