Mosiah — Chapter 2
1 After Mosiah did what his father commanded him, all the people gathered together and came to the temple to hear what King Benjamin wanted to say to them.
2 There were so many people that they could not be counted.
3 The people also took the first-born animals of their flocks to sacrifice as the Law of Moses commanded.
4 They also came to give thanks to God, who had led them away from Jerusalem, and who had protected them from their enemies, and who had given them good teachers. They thanked God for giving them a good king who had made peace in the land of Zarahemla, and who had taught them to keep God’s commandments so they would be happy and love God and all people.
5 When the people came to the temple, each family set up its tent around it — every man and woman with their sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, from the oldest down to the youngest, with each whole family in its own tent.
6 They set up their tents with the doors facing the temple, so they could stay inside their tents and still hear what King Benjamin was going to say to them.
7 There were so many people that King Benjamin could not teach them all inside the temple, so he had a tower built so the people could hear him better.
8 He began to speak from the top of the tower. But there were so many people that some of them still could not hear what he said, so he made sure that what he said was written down and sent to everyone who could not hear him, so they would know what he was saying.
9 This is what he said (which was written down): My brothers and sisters, all you who have come here to listen to me today, I have not told you to come here so you could have fun, but so you would listen to me carefully and understand with your hearts and minds about the ways of God.
10 I have not commanded you to come here so you would be afraid of me, or to make you think that I am more than just a man.
11 I am just like you, and I get sick just like you. Even so, I was chosen by you and by my father, and also by the Lord, to be king over you. I have been protected by God’s power so I could serve you with all the power and strength and wisdom God has given me.
12 I have spent my life in your service and have not tried to get gold or silver or riches from you.
13 I have not thrown you in jail, nor let anyone be a slave, nor own slaves. I have not let you kill each other, nor steal, nor do any kind of wicked thing, but I have taught you to keep the commandments of the Lord and to do everything he has told you to do.
14 I have even worked with my own hands while I served you so you would not have to pay taxes for me to be your king. You here today know that all this is true.
15 My brothers and sisters, I am not telling you these things to boast, nor to make you feel bad, but because I want you to know that I can tell God that I have done what he has wanted me to do as your king.
16 So when I tell you I have served you all my life, I am not boasting, because I have really been serving God.
17 I am telling you this so you can learn to be wise — so you will learn that when you serve one another, you are really serving God.
18 You have called me your king. If I, your king, have worked to serve you, shouldn’t you work to serve and help each other?
19 And if you want to thank me, your king, for serving you and serving God all my life, shouldn’t you thank your heavenly King even more?
20 I say to you, brothers and sisters, that if you tried to thank God with all the power of your whole soul for making you, and protecting you, and helping you to be happy and to live in peace with each other —
21 I say to you that if you serve God, who made you and protects you each day, and who helps you to live — I say that even if you serve him with your whole souls, you would not be able to pay him back for everything he has done for you.
22 But all he wants you to do is to keep his commandments. He has promised you that if you keep his commandments, you will prosper in this land. He never breaks his promises, so if you keep his commandments, he will bless you and help you prosper.
23 First of all, he made you, and gave you your lives, and you cannot pay him back for that.
24 Second, he wants you to do what he commands you to do, and when you do what he tells you to, he pays you right back by blessing you right away. You can never, ever pay him back, so how can any of you boast?
25 Now I ask you, what can you say for yourselves? You cannot even say you are worth as much as the dust of the earth, even though you were made from it, because even the dust of the earth belongs to God, who made it.
26 I, your king, am no better than any of you, because I was made from dust, too. And you can see that I am old and just about to die.
27 I said I have served you and done what God has wanted me to do. This is why I have told you to come here — so that God will not blame me for your sins when he judges my work for and service to you.
28 I had you all come together here so I will not be blamed for your sins, and so I can die in peace. My spirit will soon join the angels in heaven in singing praises to our good God.
29 I have told you to come here because I must tell you that I cannot be your teacher nor your king anymore.
30 Even now as I am talking to you, my whole body is shaking. But the Lord has given me strength and is helping me speak to you. He has commanded me to tell you today that my son Mosiah will be your new king and ruler.
31 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to keep on doing just what you have done before. Just as you have kept my commandments and my father’s commandments, and have prospered, and have been protected from your enemies, you will prosper and be protected if you keep my son’s commandments, which God will tell him to give to you.
32 But, O my people, be careful not to fight with each other, and do not choose to obey the devil my father Mosiah told you about.
33 Bad things will happen to people who choose to obey the devil. If people choose to obey the devil, and do not repent, and die in their sins, they will be damned. Those who know they should not break God’s commandments will be punished.
34 All of you have been taught these things except for your little children. You know that you must do what Heavenly Father tells you and give yourself to him, and serve him. You have also been taught the things which all the prophets up to Lehi wrote on the brass plates.
35 You have also been taught all the things God has told our ancestors to teach since coming to the promised land.
36 Now, my brothers and sisters, if you do wicked things after you have been taught all these good things, God’s Spirit will leave you, and not lead you in wisdom to protect you and bless you anymore.
37 People who do wicked things are rebelling against God and choosing to obey the devil. They become enemies to all good things, so God’s Spirit leaves them, because his Spirit will not live where evil is.
38 If those people do not repent, and are enemies to God when they die, justice will make them feel guilty, and they will be ashamed and afraid to see God. They will be full of unhappiness and guilt and pain which is like burning.
39 There can be no mercy for those people, and their pain will never end.
40 O all you old people, and young people, and you little children who can understand what I say, I have said these things plainly so you could understand them. I pray you will remember what terrible things will happen to people who do evil things.
41 But I also want you to think about how happy people are who keep God’s commandments. They are blessed with good things on earth, and their spirits are blessed. If they do what they should until the end of their lives, they will live with God and be happy forever. O, remember that what I have told you is true, because the Lord has said it.
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