The Second Book of Nephi — Chapter 1
1 After I, Nephi, finished teaching my brothers, my father said many things to them. He talked to them about all the good things the Lord had done for them when he led them out of Jerusalem.
2 He talked to them about their rebellion on the boat, and about how God had had mercy and saved them from drowning in the sea.
3 He also talked to them about the promised land they had been given, and how God had had mercy on us by warning us to leave Jerusalem.
4 Lehi said: I have seen in a vision that Jerusalem has been destroyed. We would have been destroyed if we had stayed there.
5 Even though we have had troubles, we have been given this wonderful promised land — a land that is better than any other land. God has promised me that this land will belong to my family and my descendants and to all people whom God brings here.
6 So I, Lehi, prophesy by the Spirit in me that no one will come to this land unless the Lord brings them here.
7 This land will be given to those he brings here. If they serve him and keep the commandments he gives them, they will be free in this land. They will never be made slaves unless they sin. If there is lots of wickedness, the land will be cursed to make them repent, but the land will be blessed for the righteous forever.
8 It is a wise thing that other nations do not know about this land, because if they knew about it, they would send so many people here that there would not be any place for us to live.
9 So I, Lehi, was given a promise that the people the Lord God brings from Jerusalem will prosper so long as they keep his commandments. He will not let other nations know about them so they can keep this land for themselves. And if they keep his commandments, they will be blessed, and no one will hurt them, nor take away their land, and they will live here safely forever.
10 But when the time comes that they do not believe anymore, even after the Lord has given them so many blessings — knowing about how the earth began, and about all people, and about everything God has done since the beginning, and having power to do all things through faith, and having all the commandments from the beginning, and being brought here by his goodness to this wonderful land of promise — I tell you that if the day comes that they turn away from the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Savior and their God, the judgments of our just God will be on them.
11 Yes, he will bring other nations here, and he will give those other people power to take away their lands, and to scatter and destroy them.
12 There will be bloody wars from one generation to another, and they will terribly punished. I want you to remember this, my sons — yes, I want you to listen to my words.
13 O, how I wish you would wake up from the deep sleep of hell and shake off the chains that tie you up. These same chains tie people up so they can be taken as slaves to that place of eternal misery and woe.
14 Wake up and get up out of the dust, and hear the words of your shaking parent, whose body you will soon put into the cold and quiet grave, from which no person can come back. In a few more days I will die like everyone else on earth.
15 But the Lord has saved my soul from hell. I have seen his glory, and his love is around me forever.
16 I want you to remember to keep the Lord’s commandments. This is what my soul has worried about from the beginning.
17 My heart has been very sad from time to time, because I have been afraid that the hardness of your hearts will bring on you the anger of the Lord your God, cutting you off and destroying you forever,
18 Or cursing you for many generations, and punishing you by war, and famine, and making you hated, and letting the devil make you slaves.
19 O my sons, I hope these things will not happen to you, but that you will be a people whom the Lord will bless. May his will be done, because his ways are righteous forever.
20 He has said: “If you keep my commandments, you will prosper in the land; but if you do not keep my commandments, you will be cut off from me.”
21 Make my soul happy because of you as I leave this world, instead of making me sad as I die. Get up out of the dust, my sons, and be men. Choose with one mind and heart together that you will not be slaves to the devil.
22 Don’t let yourselves be cursed with a terrible curse, and don’t make God so angry with you that he will destroy both your soul and your body forever.
23 Wake up, my sons! Put on the armor of righteousness, break the chains that tie you up, come out of hiding, and get up out of the dust.
24 Don’t fight against your brother anymore. He has seen wonderful things and has kept the commandments ever since we left Jerusalem. He has been a tool in God’s hands to bring us here to the land of promise. If it were not for him, we would have died of hunger in the desert. Even so, you have tried to kill him, and he has been very sad because of you.
25 I am very afraid and shake to think that you might make him suffer again. You have said he wants power to rule over you, but I know he has not looked for power over you. He has done everything for the glory of God, and for your eternal good.
26 You have complained because he has spoken plainly to you. You say he has said hard words to you, and that he has been angry with you; but his words had the hardness of the power of God’s word in him. What you call anger was the truth from God about your sins, which he could not stop from telling you.
27 The power of God must be with him so that he will command you and you must obey. But it was not him, it was the Spirit of the Lord in him making him speak to you that way, and he could not stop it.
28 Now my son Laman, and also Lemuel and Sam, and my sons who are Ishmael’s sons: If you listen to what Nephi says, you will not be destroyed. And if you will listen to him, I will give you my first blessing.
29 But if you will not listen to him, I will take away my first blessing and give it to him.
30 Now Zoram, I say to you: You are Laban’s servant, but you were brought out of Jerusalem, and I know you are a true friend to my son Nephi forever.
31 Since you have been faithful, your children will be blessed with his children, and they will prosper and live long in this land. Nothing will hurt them or keep them from prospering except for sin among them.
32 So if you keep the Lord’s commandments, the Lord will bless your children and my son’s children with safety in this land.
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