Third Nephi — Chapter 6
1 During the twenty-sixth year, all the Nephites went back to their own lands with their flocks and herds and horses and cattle, and with everything else they owned.
2 They had not eaten up all their supplies, so they took everything they had not eaten or used up with them — all their different kinds of grain, their gold and silver and rich things — and they went back to their own lands in the north and south.
3 They gave some land to the robbers who had promised to keep the peace (even though they wanted to be Lamanites), so they would have land to work and live on. This was how the peace was kept in all the land.
4 There began to be more people, and they began to prosper again. The twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh years went by, and there was great peace in the land. Their laws were made to be just and fair.
5 There was nothing that could keep the people from prospering except sin.
6 Gidgiddoni and Lachoneus the chief judge, and the other chosen rulers were the ones who made this great peace in all the land.
7 Many new cities were built, and many old cities were fixed.
8 They built many highways and roads going from city to city, from land to land, and from place to place.
9 The twenty-eighth year ended in peace.
10 But during the twenty-ninth year, some quarrels began among the people. Some became proud and boasted because they were rich, and they began to persecute other people.
11 There were many merchants and lawyers and soldiers in the land.
12 People began to be divided by what family they came from, by how rich they were, and by how much education they had. Some people were too poor to have the chance to learn, and some had great learning because they were rich.
13 Some were very proud, and others were very humble. Some would fight back, while others would not fight back even when others would make fun of them or persecute them. They were humble before God.
14 Things became so unequal in the land that the church began to break up. During the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land except among some of the Lamanites who were converted to the true religion. They would not leave it, and they would not change, and they kept God’s commandments.
15 This happened because Satan had great power to lead the people to do all kinds of evil things, and to help them be proud, and to look for power and riches and the vain things of the world.
16 This was how Satan led the people to do all kinds of evil things, so they had peace for only a few years.
17 The people were led by Satan to do whatever evil things he wanted them to do for a long time. Things were very wicked at the beginning of the thirtieth year.
18 They did not sin because they did not know any better. They knew what God wanted them to do, because they had been taught, but they rebelled against God.would believe them into the church. They baptized them, and whoever was baptized received the Holy Ghost.
19 This happened while Lachoneus, the son of Lachoneus, was chief judge in place of his father, and ruled over the people that year.
20 Then prophets whom God had called went among the people in all the land, boldly telling them about their sins and wickedness, and telling them about Christ’s resurrection. They told the people boldly about his suffering and death.
21 Many people became very angry with those who talked about these things. The ones who were angry were mostly the chief judges and those who had been high priests and lawyers. In fact, all the lawyers were angry with those who talked about these things.
22 No lawyer or judge or high priest had the power to punish anyone to death unless the order was signed by the chief judge of the land.
23 But the judges secretly killed many of the people who talked boldly about Christ, and the chief judge did not hear about it until after they were killed.
24 This was against the laws of the land. No one was to be killed unless theruler of the land gave that power to the [lower] judges.
25 So some complained to the chief judge in Zarahemla about the judges who had gone against the law and killed the Lord’s prophets.
26 Then those judges were brought before the chief judge to be judged for breaking the people’s laws.
27 But those judges had many friends and family, and those who were left — almost all the lawyers and high priests — gathered together and joined with the families of the judges who were going to be judged by law.
They promised each other to fight against what was right, using the promise the devil had used in the past.
29 So they joined together against the Lord’s people, and promised to destroy them, and to save those who were guilty of murder from being punished by the law.
30 They rebelled against the laws and rights of their country. They promised each other to kill the chief judge and to make a king over the land, so that the land would not be free, and all would have to obey the king.
easyreadbkmormon.com 