Helaman — Chapter 8
1 After Nephi had these things, some men who were judges (but also Gadianton robbers) got angry and said to the people: “Why don’t you grab this man and bring him to judgment to be punished for the crime he has done?
2 “Why are you looking at this man and listening to him say bad things about our people and our law?”
3 [They said this because] Nephi had talked to them about how their laws were being changed. Yes, a lot of what Nephi said cannot be written, but he did not say anything to break God’s commandments.
4 Those judges were angry with him because he talked plainly to them about their secret evil works. They were afraid to grab him themselves, because they were afraid the people would turn against them.
5 That was why they said to the people: “Why do you let this man say bad things against us? He is saying bad things about all the people — that we will be destroyed. He has said our great cities will be taken away from us, and that we will not live in them.
6 “We know this cannot happen, because we are strong, and our cities are great, so our enemies cannot have any power over us.”
7 This was how they made the people angry with Nephi. But they argued with each other, because some said: “Let this man alone, because he is a good man, and what he has said will happen to us if we don’t repent.
8 “Yes, all the judgments he has prophesied about will happen to us, because we know he has told us the truth about our sins. We have many sins, and he knows what will happen to us as well as he knows about our sins.
9 “Yes, if he were not a prophet, he could not have talked about those things.”
10 So those people who wanted to kill Nephi could not grab him, because they were afraid. When Nephi saw that enough of the people were on his side to make the others afraid, he began to talk to them again.
11 He said: “My brothers and sisters, haven’t you read that God gave power to one man, Moses, to hit the waters of the Red Sea? The waters divided so our ancestors, the Israelites, could walk across on dry ground, and then the waters came in again on the Egyptian armies.
12 “Now, if God gave that man so much power, why should you argue with each other and say that he has not given me power to know what the judgments on you will be if you don’t repent?
13 “You are not only denying what I say, but also everything our ancestors said, and what Moses, who had so much power, said about the Messiah’s coming.
14 “Didn’t he witness that the Son of God would come? Just as Moses lifted up the brass snake in the desert, so the Son of God will come and be lifted up.
15 “All those who looked at the snake lived, just as all those who look on the Son of God with faith, having a repentant heart, will live and have eternal life.
16 “Moses was not the only one who talked about these things. All the prophets from Moses to Abraham did, too.
17 “Abraham saw his coming and was filled with joy.
18 “Abraham was not the only one who knew about these things. There were many before Abraham who were called by God to his Son’s priesthood. This was so the people would know about his salvation many thousands of years before he comes.
19 “Now I want you to know that since Abraham’s time there have been many prophets who have talked about these things. Yes, the prophet Zenos talked about it plainly, and he was killed for doing so.
20 “So did Zenock, and Ezias, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah (who was the prophet who prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem). Now we know that Jerusalem was destroyed as Jeremiah said it would be. O then, why wouldn’t the Son of God come, as he prophesied?
21 “Will you argue that Jerusalem wasn’t destroyed? Will you say that Zedekiah’s sons weren’t killed, all except for Mulek? Don’t you see that Zedekiah’s descendants are with us here and now, and they were chased out of the land of Jerusalem? But this is not all.
22 “Our father Lehi was chased out of Jerusalem for prophesying about these things. Nephi also talked about these things, along with almost all our ancestors down to this time. They talked about Christ’s coming, and they saw it, and they were happy in his day which will come.
23 “He is God, and he was with them, and he showed himself to them and saved them. They gave him glory because of the things which will happen.
24 “Now, since you know these things and cannot say they are not true without lying, you have sinned because you have rejected all these things, even with all the witnesses you have been given. You have been given all things in heaven and earth as a witness that these things are true.
25 “But you have rejected the truth and fought against your holy God. Even now you are saving up his anger for yourselves at the judgment day, instead of riches in heaven, where no imperfect or unclean thing can come.
26 “Yes, you are getting ready to be destroyed at this time because of your murders and sexual sins and wickedness. If you don’t repent, it will happen soon.
27 “Yes, it is almost ready to happen. Yes, go to the judgment-seat and look, because your chief judge has been murdered, and he is lying in his blood. He was murdered by his brother, who wants to be chief judge.
28 “They both belong to the Gadianton robbers, who were begun by Gadianton and the evil one who wants to destroy people’s souls.”
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