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The First Book of Nephi — Chapter 1

¹ I, Nephi, was born into a good family, so I was taught many things my father had learned. I have had many troubles during my life, but even so, the Lord has blessed me all my life. I am writing a history of my life because I have known about God’s ways and his goodness.
² I am writing this history in my father’s language, which is the knowledge of the Jews, written in Egyptian.
³ I know that what I am going to write is true. I am writing it myself, and it is based on what I know.
⁴ My father, Lehi, had lived near Jerusalem all his life. At the beginning of the first year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, many prophets came who told the people that they had to repent, or else the great city of Jerusalem would be destroyed.
⁵ So my father Lehi prayed to the Lord with all his heart for his people.
⁶ As he prayed, a pillar of fire came and stood on a rock in front of him, and he heard and saw many things which made him shake with fear.
⁷ When he came back to his house at Jerusalem, he threw himself down on his bed, because he was overcome with the Spirit and with the things he had seen.
⁸ While he was overcome with the Spirit, he saw a vision. He saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting on his throne, with many angels singing and praising him.
⁹ Then Lehi saw One come down from heaven who was brighter than the sun at noon.
¹⁰ Twelve others followed him who were brighter than the stars at night.
¹¹ They came down to earth. The first One came to my father and gave him a book which he told him to read.
¹² As Lehi read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
¹³ He read: “Woe, woe to Jerusalem, because I have seen your sins!” My father read many things about Jerusalem. He read that the city and its people would be destroyed. He read that many people would die in war, and many others would be taken to Babylon as slaves.
¹⁴ After my father read many great and amazing things, he said to the Lord: “Your works are great and amazing, O Lord God Almighty! Your throne is high in the heavens, and your power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the people of the earth. Because of your great mercy, you will not destroy any person who wants to come to you!”
¹⁵ This was how my father praised God, because he was happy, and his whole heart was filled with joy because of the things the Lord had shown him.
¹⁶ Now I, Nephi, am not going to write down everything my father wrote, because he wrote down many things he saw in visions and dreams. He also wrote down the things he said and prophesied to his children.
¹⁷ I am going to write about my life, but first I will write some of my father’s writings on these metal pages (which I made myself). After I write down some of what my father wrote, I will write about my own life.
¹⁸ I want you to know that after the Lord showed my father so many amazing things about the destruction of Jerusalem, Lehi went among the people and prophesied and told them about the things he had seen and heard.
¹⁹ But the Jews made fun of him for telling them about their wickedness and sins. He also told them about the things he saw and heard, and about the things he read in the book which plainly told about the coming the Messiah, who would save the world.
²⁰ When the Jews heard these things, they were angry with Lehi, just as they had been angry with the prophets of old, whom they had thrown out, and stoned, and killed. They also wanted to kill him; but I, Nephi, will show you that the Lord protects those he chooses because of their faith.