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Alma — Chapter 7

Alma talks to the people of Gideon.

¹ My dear brothers and sisters, since I have been able to come to you, I will try to talk to you using my own words. This is the first time I have been able to talk to you myself, since I was so busy being chief judge before that I could not come to you.

² I could not have come now had I not given the judgment-seat to someone else. The Lord in great mercy has let me come to you.

³ I had great hopes to come and find that you were humble before God, and were still praying to him for grace, so I would not find you guilty before him and so full of trouble as our brothers and sisters in Zarahemla.

⁴ But may my God’s name be blessed, he has given me the great joy of knowing that they are righteous again.

⁵ I trust by the Spirit of God in me that I will have joy because of you. But I do not want my joy in you to come in the same way it came for my brothers and sisters in Zarahemla. That joy came only after many troubles and lots of sadness.

⁶ But I trust that you are not as unbelieving as your brothers and sisters, nor as proud; nor are your hearts as set on riches and the vain things of the world. Yes, I trust that you do not worship false gods, but worship the true and living God, and are looking forward to having your sins taken away by faith in what will come.

⁷ I tell you that many things will come. But one thing is more important than everything else — the coming of the Savior to his people not too long from now.

⁸ I am not saying he will come to us while he is a mortal, because the Spirit has told me that this will not be so. I only know that the Lord God has power to do whatever he says he will do.

⁹ But the Spirit has told me: “Say to this people: ‘Repent, and prepare for the Lord, and walk in his straight ways. The kingdom of heaven will be here soon, and the Son of God will come down to earth soon.’”

¹⁰ He will be born at Jerusalem, the land of our ancestors. Mary will be his mother. She will be a chosen virgin, and she will give birth to a son — even the Son of God — by the power of the Holy Ghost.

¹¹ He will suffer pain and troubles and tests of every kind, making the prophecies come true which say he will take on his people’s pains and sicknesses.

¹² He will take on death so he can break the chains tying up his people. He will take on their weaknesses so he will have mercy and know how to help his people with their weaknesses.

¹³ The Spirit knows everything. But the Son of God will suffer in his mortal body by taking on himself the sins of his people, so he can pay for their sins by the power of his salvation. This is my witness.

¹⁴ I tell you that you must repent and be born again, because the Spirit says you cannot live in the kingdom of heaven if you are not born again. So come and be baptized to repentance, so your sins will be washed away, and so you will have faith in the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He is strong to save and can clean away all wickedness.

¹⁵ Yes, don’t be afraid, but come and get rid of your sins which are so easy to commit — which tie you down to destruction. Yes, come and show your God that you want to repent of your sins, and promise to keep his commandments. Show him this by being baptized today.

¹⁶ Whoever does this and keeps God’s commandments from now on will remember that I told them, by the Holy Spirit in me, that they will have eternal life.

¹⁷ Now, my dear brothers and sisters, do you believe these things? I tell you, Yes, I know you believe them. I know because the Spirit in me has shown this to me. I am full of joy because of your strong faith in the things I have said.

¹⁸ As I said to you at the beginning, I had hoped you were not in trouble like your brothers and sisters. Now I see that my hopes and wishes have come true.

¹⁹ I see that you are being righteous and walking on the path that leads to God. Yes, I see you are making his ways straight.

²⁰ I see that you know by the witness of his holy word that he does not walk in crooked paths, and that he does what he says he will do. He does not go to the right or the left, nor from right to wrong. His way is an eternal circle.

²¹ He does not live in unholy temples, and nothing filthy can come into God’s kingdom. The time will come when whoever is filthy at the last day will stay filthy.

²² Now, my dear brothers, I have said these things to you to wake you up to your duty to God, so you will not be guilty before him, and so you will walk in God’s holy priesthood, as you have been called to do.

²³ I want you to be humble, and meek, and gentle; easy to be asked for help; full of patience; slow to get angry, working hard to keep God’s commandments at all times; praying for whatever things you need, both earthly and spiritual, always giving thanks to God for whatever you receive.

²⁴ Make sure you have faith, hope and charity. Then you will always do many good works.

²⁵ May the Lord bless you and keep you clean so that at the last day you may sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the holy prophets who have lived since the world began. May your clothes be clean just as their clothes are clean in the kingdom of heaven, and may you never have to leave it.

²⁶ My dear brothers and sisters, I have said these words to you by the Spirit which is a witness in me. My soul is very happy because of how well you have listened to what I have said and obeyed.

²⁷ Now may God’s peace be on you, on your houses and lands, and on your flocks and herds, and on all you own. May his peace be on your men and women and children, from now until forever, as I have said. Amen.