Second Nephi — Chapter 10
Jacob continues talking to his people.
1 Now, my dear brothers and sisters, I, Jacob, will talk to you again about this righteous branch,
2 Because the promises we have been given are for this life. I have been shown that many of our descendants will die because they do not believe. But God will have mercy on many of them, and our descendants will be strong again so they can learn the truth about their Savior.
3 As I said to you, Christ (the angel told me last night that that would be his name) will come among the Jews, who are among the more wicked part of the world. They will kill him on a cross, and God will let them do it. No other nation on earth would kill their God,
4 Because if his mighty works were done in other nations, they would repent and know that he is their God.
5 But those at Jerusalem will be stubborn because of false teachings and sin, and he will be killed on a cross.
6 Destruction, famine, disease, and war will come on them because of their sins. Those who are not destroyed will be scattered among all nations.
7 But this is what the Lord God says: “When the day comes that they believe in me, that I am Christ, they will be restored in the flesh to their ancestors’ lands. This is what I have promised their ancestors.”
8 God says: “After being scattered for such a long time, they will be gathered in from all the islands of the sea, and from all over the earth. The Gentile nations will be great in my eyes in taking them back to their ancestors’ lands.”
9 Gentile kings will be like fathers to them, and Gentile queens will be like mothers to them, so we see that the Lord’s promises to the Gentiles are great. He has said these things, and who can argue against them?
10 God says: “This land will be a land for you forever, and the Gentiles will be blessed on the land.
11 “This land will be a free land for the Gentiles. There will be no kings over the Gentiles in this land.
12 “I will make this land strong against all other nations.”
13 God says: “Whoever fights against Zion will be destroyed.
14 “Whoever tries to make a king against me will be destroyed, because I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light forever to those who hear my words.
15 “I must destroy people’s secret works of darkness, and their murders, and their sins in this life, so that I will be able to keep the promises I have made to them.
16 “Those who fight against Zion — Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female — will be destroyed, because they are the wicked people of all the earth.” Our God says: “Those who are not for me are against me.
17 “I will keep the promises I have made to people, and I will do it in this life.”
18 So, dear brothers and sisters, this is what God says: “I will use the Gentiles to punish your descendants. Even so, I will soften the Gentiles’ hearts so they will be like parents to them. The Gentiles will be blessed and counted with the House of Israel.
19 “I will give this land to your descendants, and to those who will be counted with your descendants, and it will be their land forever.” God said to me: “This is a wonderful land — more wonderful than all other lands, so I will have people on it who will pray to me.”
20 Now, my dear brothers and sisters, since our merciful God has given us so much knowledge about these things, let us remember him, and stop sinning and feeling bad, because we have not been cut off. Even though we had to leave our parents’ land, we have been taken to a better land. The Lord made the sea our path, and we are on an island of the sea.
21 The Lord’s promises are great to those on the islands of the sea. (It says “islands,” so there must be more than one, and our brothers and sisters live on them.)
22 The Lord God has led away people from the House of Israel from time to time, as he wanted. Now, the Lord remembers all whom he has led away, so he remembers us, too.
23 So make your hearts happy, and remember that you are free to choose what you will do — to choose the way of everlasting death, or the way of eternal life.
24 Dear brothers and sisters, make peace with the will of God, and not with the will of the devil nor even with the will of your own bodies. Remember that after you have made peace with God, it is only by his grace that you are saved.
25 May God raise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and from everlasting death by the power of the atonement, so you will be welcomed into God’s eternal kingdom, and so you will praise him through his holy grace. Amen.
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