- 5I cried often to the Lord my God in prayer because of my brothers’ anger, 2but their anger against me grew to such an extent that they tried to kill me. 3Indeed, they complained about me, saying: Our younger brother is planning to rule over us — we’ve put up with so much from him. Therefore let’s kill him now, so we won’t be bothered anymore by what he says. We refuse to have him be in charge of us, because it belongs to us, the older brothers, to rule over the people. 4Now I don’t write on these plates all of their accusations against me, I’ll just leave it with they tried to kill me.
- 5Then the Lord warned me and any who wanted to go with me, to leave them and escape into the wilderness. 6Therefore I took my family, Zoram and his family, my older brother Sam and his family, my younger brothers Jacob and Joseph, my sisters, and anyone willing to go with me. Those willing to go with me were the people who believed in God’s warnings and revelations; as a result, they listened to what I said. 7We took our tents and everything we could and traveled in the wilderness for many days. After we had traveled for many days we set up our tents. 8Those who accompanied me wanted to name the place Nephi, so we called it Nephi, 9and they took the liberty of calling themselves Nephi’s people. 10We paid careful attention to follow the Lord’s judgments, statutes, and commandments in all things, according to the Law of Moses. 11The Lord was with us and we thrived, sowing seeds and harvesting abundantly. We began to raise flocks, herds, and animals of every kind. 12I also brought the records engraved on the brass plates, and the ball or compass prepared for my father on which the Lord had written messages.
- 13Then we began to have very good results on the land and our families multiplied. 14I took Laban’s sword and made many copies, to defend ourselves from the people who were now called Lamanites, fearing they would attack and kill us, because I knew they hated me, my children, and those called my people. 15I taught my people to construct buildings and work in all kinds of wood, iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, and useful metals, which were abundant. 16And I built a temple, constructing it like Solomon’s temple, except that it wasn’t built of similar carved stonework — since we didn’t have access to that in our new place — so it wasn’t an exact copy of Solomon’s temple. But the layout followed Solomon’s temple, and it had our best workmanship.
- 17I encouraged my people to be industrious and work with their hands. 18They wanted me to be their king, but I didn’t want them to have a king. Nevertheless, I did for them everything in my power. 19What the Lord predicted about my brothers happened when God said I would be a ruler and teacher. I actually had been their ruler and teacher, following the Lord’s commandments, until they tried to kill me. 20As a result, what the Lord told me was fulfilled, saying: If they refuse to listen to your words, they’ll be cut off from God’s presence. And they actually were cut off from His presence. 21He imposed a cursing on them. It was a severe cursing because of their iniquity, because they had hardened their hearts against Him. They were unyielding, like flint. Therefore, although they had been pure and radiant and highly pleasing, the Lord God made their dark countenance show through so they wouldn’t be attractive to my people. 22The Lord God decreed: I’ll cause them — unless they repent of their iniquities — to repulse your people. 23And the descendants of anyone who joins their descendants will be cursed, since they’ll receive the same cursing. The Lord spoke it, and it was done. 24Because of the curse upon them, they became people without purpose and meaning, engaged in trifling and foolish behavior, full of mischief and subtlety, hunting predator animals in the wilderness. 25The Lord God told me: They will afflict your descendants in order to remind your posterity to remember Me. And to the degree your posterity fails to remember Me and hearken to My words, they’ll attack your people, threatening their complete destruction.
- 26And I ordained Jacob and Joseph to be priests and teachers in the land of my people. 27And we lived in a way that brought happiness, 28thirty years having elapsed since we left Jerusalem. 29And I had kept the record of my people up to this time upon the plates I had made.
- 30Then the Lord God told me: Make other plates. You are to engrave important things on them that I consider valuable for your people’s benefit. 31Therefore in order to obey the Lord’s commandment, I went and made these plates on which I’ve written these things. 32And I engraved what pleases God. So, if my people are pleased with the things of God, they’ll be pleased with what I’ve written on these plates. 33But if my people want to know details about our history, they’ll need to study my other plates. 34It’s enough for me to say that forty years had come to an end, and we had already had wars and conflicts with our brothers.
Chapter 4