- 28Now, my people, I’ve spoken to you as the Spirit has inspired me; so I know these things will certainly happen. 2The things that will be written from the book will be very valuable for mankind and especially for our descendants, who are a remnant of the house of Israel. 3Then at that time, among churches that aren’t established by the Lord, one church will say to the other: I, I’m the Lord’s! And the other will reply: I, I’m the Lord’s! — this is how everyone will talk who’s built up churches that aren’t established by the Lord. 4They’ll argue with each other, and their priests will contradict each other. They’ll teach according to what they’ve learned and deny the Holy Ghost, which inspires people to speak truth. 5And they’ll deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel. They’ll tell the people: Listen to us and follow our directions. God isn’t around today; the Lord and the Redeemer has done His work, and He’s given men His power. 6Believe what we teach: If they say that there’s a miracle performed by the hand of the Lord, don’t believe it! He’s not a God of miracles today; He’s finished His work. 7There will be many who will say: Eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves; because we’ll soon die and it will turn out fine for us. 8And there will also be many who will say: Eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves, but praise God. He’ll justify committing a little sin. Lie a little, take advantage of someone because of their mistakes, set a trap for your neighbor; there’s no harm in any of this. And do all these things, because we’ll soon die. But if it turns out we’re guilty, God will spank us with a few strokes, and in the end, we’ll be saved in God’s kingdom. 9Many will teach in this way false, powerless, and foolish doctrines, and will be filled with pride to their very center and go to great lengths to hide their secret plans from the Lord. They’ll try to hide the things they do from public view. 10And the blood of the holy ones will cry out from the ground against them.
- 11Indeed, they’ve all departed from the pathway and become corrupted because of pride. 12And because of false teachers and false doctrines, their churches will have become corrupted and prideful; because of pride they’re full of conceit. 13They rob the poor because of their fine places of worship and they rob the poor because of their expensive clothing. They persecute the humble and poor in heart because they’re inflated with pride. 14They’re unyielding and arrogant; and because of pride, wickedness, abominations, and whoredoms, they’ve all gone astray except for a few who are Christ’s humble followers. However, they’re led by false teachings, so that in many cases they go astray because they’re taught to obey man-made rules and principles.
- 15The Lord God Almighty has said: Woe, woe, woe to the wise, the well-educated, and the rich who are prideful to their very center, and to all those who preach false doctrines, practice whoredoms, worship idols, and corrupt and pervert the Lord’s right way! They will be thrown down to hell.
- 16Woe to those who disregard the just for something of no value and loudly condemn what’s good and say it’s worthless, because the time is soon coming when the Lord God will visit the inhabitants of the earth in judgment. And when they’re fully ripe in iniquity, they will be destroyed. 17However, the Lord of Hosts has said, if the inhabitants of the earth repent of their wickedness and abominations, they won’t be destroyed. 18But that powerful and utterly wicked church — the whore of all the earth — will fall to the ground in ruins; and its fall will be impressive. 19Indeed, the accuser’s kingdom must shake. And those who belong to it must be motivated to repent, or the accuser will grab them with his everlasting chains and they’ll become angry and be lost, 20since at that time he’ll rage in mankind’s hearts and cause them to be angry against all that is good. 21And he’ll pacify others, lulling them into worldly security, so that they’ll say: Everything is fine in Zion; in fact, Zion is prospering. Everything is fine! And so the accuser swindles them and leads them away carefully down to hell. 22And he beguiles others, telling them: There’s no hell. He says to them: I’m not the accuser — because there isn’t one. This is how he whispers in their ears until he imprisons them with his awful chains, from which there’s no rescue. 23They’re imprisoned by death and hell and the accuser; and all those who have been captured by these will stand before God’s throne and be judged according to their works. From there they’ll go to the place prepared for them — a fiery lake that burns like lava, which is endless torment. 24Therefore, woe to those who are at ease in Zion!
- 25Woe to those who cry out: Everything is fine! 26Woe to those who follow the worthless teachings of men and deny God’s power and the gift of the Holy Ghost. 27Woe to those who say: We’ve received enough of the truth and we don’t need any more. 28In short, woe to all those who shake with anger because of God’s truth. Because those built on God’s rock are glad to receive truth. But those built on a sandy foundation are afraid of falling.
- 29Woe to those who say: We’ve received God’s word; we don’t need more of God’s word because we have enough. 30This is what the Lord God has said: I’ll give mankind line upon line, a teaching here and a teaching there, a little here and a little there. Those who follow My teachings and listen to My counsel are blessed since they’ll learn wisdom. And I’ll give more to those who receive; but from those who say we have enough, even what they have will be taken away. 31Those who put their trust in the scholarly arrogance of men or follow the false teachings of a man are cursed, because only those teachings given by the power of the Holy Ghost are true.
- 32The Lord God of Hosts has said: Woe to the Gentiles; because despite extending My welcoming arm to them from day to day, they will deny Me. Nevertheless, I’ll be merciful to them, says the Lord God, if they repent and come to Me. My arm beckons to them all day long, says the Lord God of Hosts.
- 29But there will be many who are uninterested when I proceed to do an awe-inspiring work among them, in order to fulfill the covenants I’ve made with mankind. When I beckon them a second time to recover My people who belong to the house of Israel; 2when I fulfill the promises I’ve made to you, Nephi, and to your father as well. I said I would remember your descendants, and the words of your record would be made available by My power to your descendants. My words will whistle to the ends of the earth as a standard to My people who belong to the house of Israel. 3And because My words will ring out, many of the Gentiles will say: A Bible? A Bible? We have a Bible! There can’t be another Bible! 4But this is what the Lord God has said: These fools will have a Bible, and it will come from the Jews, My ancient covenant people. But what thanks do they give the Jews for the Bible they received from them? What do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the Jews’ struggles, efforts, and pains, and their diligence toward Me in making news of salvation known to the Gentiles?
- 5You Gentiles, have you remembered the Jews, My ancient covenant people? No, on the contrary, you’ve cursed and hated them and haven’t tried to recover them. But I’ll turn all these things back on your own heads, because I, the Lord, have never forgotten My people. 6You fool who says: A Bible? We’ve got a Bible! We don’t need another Bible! Have you obtained a Bible from anyone but the Jews? 7Don’t you know there are more nations than one? Don’t you know that I the Lord your God have created all people and remember those on islands of the sea, and that I rule in the heavens above and on earth beneath, and I bring forth My word for mankind, for every nation of the world? 8So why do you complain that you receive more of My word? Don’t you know that the testimony of two nations is a witness to you that I Am God, and I remember one nation like another? That being the case, I speak the same words to one nation as I do to another; and when the two nations unite, their testimonies will also unite. 9I do this to prove to everyone that I Am the same yesterday, today, and forever, and I deliver My words according to My own pleasure.
- And because I’ve spoken one word, there’s no need for you to conclude that I can’t speak another. Because My work isn’t finished yet, and it won’t be until the end of mankind, or even from then on and forever. 10So, because you have a Bible, there’s no need to conclude it contains all My words or that I haven’t caused more to be written. 11I command all people — in the east, the west, the north, the south, and on the islands of the sea — to write the words I speak to them, because I’ll judge the world from the books that will be written, each person according to what they do measured against what’s written. 12I’ll speak to the Jews, and they’ll write it; I’ll also speak to the Nephites, and they’ll write it; I’ll also speak to the other tribes of the house of Israel I’ve led away, and they’ll write it; I’ll also speak to every nation on earth, and they’ll write it. 13The Jews will have the Nephites’ records and the Nephites will have the Jews’ records; and the Nephites and Jews will have the records of the lost tribes of Israel, and the lost tribes of Israel will have the records of the Nephites and the Jews. 14And My people who belong to the house of Israel will be gathered home to their own lands. And the testimonies of Me will also be united as one, and I’ll show those who fight against My word and against My people who belong to the house of Israel that I Am God, and I covenanted with Abraham to remember his descendants forever.
- 30Now, my dear people, I wish to talk to you. I don’t want to let you think you are more righteous than the Gentiles will be. Unless you keep God’s commandments, you’ll all likewise be lost. And because of the words provided to you, don’t conclude the Gentiles will be completely destroyed. 2I tell you: All the Gentiles who repent are the Lord’s covenant people, and all the Jews who refuse to repent will be rejected. The Lord only covenants with those who repent and believe in His Son, who is the Holy One of Israel.
- 3Now I wish to prophesy a little more about the Jews and Gentiles. After the book I’ve mentioned appears, and is set down in writing for the Gentiles, and is sealed up again to the Lord, there will be many who will believe the words that are written. And they’ll take the words to the remnant of our descendants, 4who will then know about us, that we came from Jerusalem, and they descend from the Jews. 5And the gospel of Jesus Christ will be taught to them; so they will be restored to the knowledge of their forefathers and also to knowledge of Jesus Christ, knowledge that their ancestors had among them. 6Then they’ll rejoice since they’ll know it’s a blessing to them from the hand of God. Their blindness will begin to be removed from their eyes. And after only a few generations they’ll become a pure and delightful people. 7The scattered Jews will also begin to believe in the Messiah, and they’ll begin to gather together on the land. And all who believe in Christ will become a delightful people.
- 8The Lord God will begin His work among people of all nations, tribes, and languages, to bring about His people’s restoration upon the earth. 9And with righteousness He’ll judge the needy, and with justice decide matters for the poor. He’ll control the earth with words from His mouth, and with His breath He’ll slay the wicked. 10For it will soon be time when the Lord God will cause a great division among the people, and He’ll destroy the wicked. And He’ll spare His people, even if He needs to use fire to destroy the wicked. 11And righteousness will be His belt, and faithfulness the sash around His waist. 12Wolves will live beside lambs, leopards will lay beside goats; and the calf, young lion, and yearling together, and a little child will lead them. 13And the cow will eat beside the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 14The infant will play at the cobra’s lair, and a young child will put his hand in the viper’s nest. 15They’ll neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord like the waters cover the sea. 16So the true history of all nations will be made known; indeed, everything will be made known to mankind. 17There isn’t anything secret that won’t be revealed, and there isn’t any hidden event that won’t be shown in the light. And there isn’t anything sealed on earth that won’t be unsealed. 18Therefore all things that have happened to mankind will, at that time, be revealed. And Satan won’t have power over people’s hearts anymore, for a long time. Now, my dear people, I finish my words.
Chapter 12