First Nephi — Chapter 7
1 I want you to know that after my father finished prophesying about his future family, the Lord spoke to him again and told him not to take his family into the desert alone. His sons needed to have wives so they could raise righteous children in the promised land.
2 So the Lord commanded my father to tell me and my brothers to go back to Jerusalem and bring Ishmael and his family with us into the desert.
3 So my brothers and I went up through the desert to Jerusalem again.
4 We went to Ishmael’s house. He liked us, and we told him what the Lord had said.
5 The Lord helped Ishmael and his family believe what we said, so they went into the desert with us to our father’s tent.
6 While we were traveling in the desert, Laman and Lemuel, and two of Ishmael’s daughters, and two of Ishmael’s sons rebelled against me and Sam, and against Ishmael, his wife, and Ishmael’s three other daughters.
7 They wanted to go back to Jerusalem.
8 I was sad they were so stubborn, so I said to Laman and Lemuel: “You are my older brothers. Why are you so stubborn in your hearts, and so blind in your minds, that I, your younger brother, have to talk to you this way, and be a good example for you?
9 “Why haven’t you listened to the Lord?
10 “How can you forget that you have seen one of God’s angels?
11 “How can you forget how the Lord saved us from Laban and helped us get the brass plates?
12 “How can you forget that God can do anything for people if they have faith in him? So let us have faith in him.
13 “If we have faith in him, he will give us a promised land. Someday you will know that what the Lord said about Jerusalem being destroyed is true.
14 “People are so wicked there that the Spirit of the Lord will soon leave them. They will not listen to the prophets, and they have put Jeremiah into prison. They tried to kill my father, so he had to leave the land.
15 “If you go back to Jerusalem, you will die with them. Remember what I say to you. It is your choice, but if you go back to Jerusalem, you will die. This is what God wants me to say to you.”
16 After I said this to my brothers, they were angry with me. They took me and tied me up with cords. They wanted to kill me by leaving me in the desert to be eaten by wild animals.
17 But I prayed to the Lord: “O Lord, save me from my brothers. Give me strength to break these cords.”
18 When I said this, the cords came off my hands and feet. I stood up in front of my brothers and began to talk to them again.
19 They were still angry with me and wanted to tie me up again. But one of Ishmael’s daughters, and her mother, and one of Ishmael’s sons talked to my brothers, and they stopped trying to kill me.
20 They were very sorry they had been so wicked and asked me to forgive them for trying to kill me.
21 I forgave them for everything they had done and told them to pray to the Lord for forgiveness. When they were done praying to the Lord, we traveled back to my father’s tent.
22 When my brothers and I and all of Ishmael’s family got to my father’s tent, they thanked the Lord and made sacrifices to him.
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