First Nephi — Chapter 13
1 Then the angel said to me: “Look!” I looked and saw many different nations and lands.
2 The angel said to me: “What do you see?” I said: “I see many different nations and lands.”
3 He said to me: “These are the nations and lands of the Gentiles.”
4 I saw that there was a big church among the Gentiles.
5 The angel said to me: “Look at the bottom of this church. This is the most wicked church in the world–it kills the people of God, and persecutes them, and makes them poor, and makes them slaves.”
6 I saw that the devil was at the bottom this big and wicked church.
7 I saw that the church owned gold and silver and rich clothing. I saw that there were many harlots in it.
8 The angel said to me: “Look at the gold, and the silver, and the rich clothing, and the harlots. These things are what this wicked church wants.
9 “The people of this church destroy the people of God and make them slaves so the world will praise them.”
10 I looked and saw a big sea between the lands of the Gentiles and the land where my brothers’ descendants lived.
11 And the angel said to me: “God is angry with your brothers’ descendants.”
12 I looked and saw a Gentile man who lived across the sea from my brothers’ descendants. The Spirit of God told him to cross the sea to the promised land.
13 I saw the Spirit of God tell other Gentiles to escape from slavery and come to the promised land, and they crossed the sea.
14 Many Gentiles came to the promised land. The Gentiles scattered and killed many of my brothers’ descendants because God was angry with them.
15 The Spirit of God was with the Gentiles, and they prospered in the promised land. They were as beautiful as my people were before they were killed.
16 And I, Nephi, saw that the Gentiles who had escaped from slavery prayed to God, and the power of God was with them.
17 The other Gentiles in the nations across the sea came to fight a war against them.
18 But the power of God was with the Gentiles in the promised land, and God was angry with the other Gentiles who had come to fight a war against them.
19 I, Nephi, saw that God saved the Gentiles in the promised land from the people of all other nations.
20 And I, Nephi, saw that the Gentiles prospered in the promised land, and I saw that they had a book with them.
21 The angel said to me: “Do you know what that book is?”
22 I said: “I do not know.”
23 He said: “The Jews wrote this book, and it is their history. It has God’s commandments to the House of Israel in it. It is just like the brass plates you have, except it does not have as many things written in it as they do. It is very important to the Gentiles.”
24 God’s angel said to me: “You saw that the Jews wrote this book. When they first wrote it, it had all the gospel in it as taught by the Son of God’s twelve apostles.
25 “This book had all the gospel in it when it went from the Jews to the Gentiles.
26 “But when the Gentiles got it, the wicked church changed the book and got rid of some parts of the gospel of the Son of God, and changed many of God’s commandments and promises.
27 “They changed God’s laws to make other people blind in spirit and hard in their hearts, and to make them do wicked things.
28 “So you see that the wicked church took out or changed many of the important things in this book — the Son of God’s book.
29 “After the book was changed, it went to the Gentiles in all nations. The Gentiles in the promised land took it with them, too. But because many plain and important things were changed or taken out of the book, many Gentiles make mistakes, and the devil has power over them.
30 “But you see that God will not let the Gentiles (whom he saved) destroy the rest of your descendants who joined your brothers’ descendants, because God promised your father that his descendants would always live in the promised land and have it for their own.
31 “God will not let the Gentiles kill all your brothers’ descendants, either..
32 “God will also not let the Gentiles keep making mistakes just because the wicked church changed and took away parts of the gospel of the Son of God.
33 “This is what the Son of God says: ‘I will have mercy on the Gentiles by judging this part of the House of Israel.’”
34 God’s angel said to me: “The Son of God says: ‘I will judge the rest of Lehi’s descendants. After the Gentiles defeat them, and after the Gentiles make mistakes because of the changes the wicked church made to my gospel, I will have mercy on the Gentiles and give them much more of my plain and important gospel.’
35 “The Son of God says: ‘I will show myself to your descendants, and they will write down the plain and important things I teach them. Then when your descendants are killed or no longer believe in God, just like your brothers’ descendants, then I will hide the things which are written until the time the Gentiles are given them by the power of God.
36 “‘My gospel will be written on those plates.
37 “‘People who work at that time to build Zion will be blessed, because they will have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. If they endure to the end, they will live with God again. Yes, whoever teaches other people the gospel will be very blessed.’”
38 Then I saw the Gentiles give the book which the Jews wrote about the gospel of the Son of God to my brothers’ descendants.
39 The Gentiles gave other books written by the power of God to my brothers’ descendants, so they and the Jews all over the earth would know that what the prophets and the apostles of the Son of God had said was true.
40 The angel said to me: “This other book will help others know that the things the Son of God’s apostles said in the first book are true. It will have many of the plain and important parts of the Son of God’s gospel in it. It will go to everyone on earth, so everyone will know that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and that all people must believe in him and obey him, or they cannot be saved.
41 “People must do what the Son of God tells them to do in both books — in the book your descendants will write, and in the book the twelve apostles of the Son of God will write — because there is only one gospel, and there is only one Son of God over all the earth.
42 “The time will come when he will show himself to all nations — to both Jews and Gentiles. After that, he will show himself to the Gentiles and then to the Jews again.”
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