The Book of Omni, the son of Jarom
1 I am Omni. My father, Jarom, told me to write down our genealogy on these plates.
2 I want you to know that during my life I fought many battles with my sword to save my people, the Nephites, from being defeated by the Lamanites. But I have been a wicked man and have not kept the Lord’s commandments as I should have.
3 We have been here for two hundred seventy-six years. During many of those years we had peace, but we have also had many terrible wars in which many people were killed. It has now been two hundred eighty-two years since we came to the promised land. I have kept these plates as my father commanded me to, and now I am giving them to my son Amaron.
4 I, Amaron, am going to write a few things in my father’s book.
5 We have been here for three hundred twenty years. Most of the wicked Nephites have been destroyed,
6 Because after he led them out of Jerusalem, and saved them from their enemies, these words of the Lord had to come true: “If you do not keep my commandments, you will not prosper in the promised land.”
7 So the Lord did not protect the wicked people, but he saved the righteous Nephites from their enemies.
8 I am giving these plates to my brother Chemish.
9 I, Chemish, will write what few things I have to say in the same book my brother wrote in. You see, I saw him write the last things he wrote in this book, and he wrote them himself on the same day he gave this book to me. This is the way we keep our history, which is the way our ancestors commanded us to do.
10 I am Abinadom, Chemish’s son. I saw many wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and killed many Lamanites with my own sword to protect my people.
11 The history of the Nephites is written on plates like these which the kings keep. I do not know of any revelations or prophecies which have not already been written down, so I will not write anything else.
12 I am Amaleki, Abinadom’s son. I am going to tell you a little about Mosiah, who became king over the land of Zarahemla. The Lord had told him to leave the land of Nephi and go into the wilderness, and take all the people with him who would listen to the Lord.
13 He did as the Lord commanded. All the people who would listen to the Lord went with Mosiah. He taught them many things about God, and prophesied many things. The Lord helped them to go through the wilderness until they came to the land of Zarahemla.
14 They found some people there called the people of Zarahemla. Zarahemla himself was very happy because the Lord had sent Mosiah and his people to them. Mosiah’s people had the brass plates with them.
15 Mosiah found that Zarahemla’s people had come to the promised land when Zedekiah, king of Judah, was taken to Babylon as a slave.
16 Zarahemla’s ancestors traveled in the desert, and the Lord brought them across the sea to the land where they were living when Mosiah found them.
17 There were many of those people when Mosiah found them. Even so, they had had many wars and terrible quarrels from time to time. Their language had changed so much that Mosiah and his people could not understand them. They had not brought any records with them, and they did not understand about God.
18 Mosiah made sure they were taught his language, and then Zarahemla told Mosiah his genealogy, which he had learned by heart. Zarahemla’s genealogy has been written down, but not on these plates.
19 Then the people of Zarahemla joined with the people of Mosiah, and Mosiah became their king.
20 While Mosiah was king, someone brought him a large stone with carvings on it. God gave Mosiah the power to understand what the carvings meant.
21 The carvings told the story of Coriantumr and his people, who were dead. Zarahemla’s people had found Coriantumr, and he lived with them for nine months.
22 The carvings also told a little bit about Coriantumr’s ancestors, who came to the promised land from the Tower of Babel at the time the Lord changed the language of all people. The Lord had punished Coriantumr’s people for being wicked, and their bones are scattered all over the north part of the land.
23 I, Amaleki, was born while Mosiah was king, and I remember when he died. His son Benjamin is now king.
24 Since Benjamin has been king, there have been many fights and a terrible war between the Nephites and Lamanites, but the Nephites have defeated the Lamanites and chased them out of the land of Zarahemla.
25 I got old. Since I have no children, I will give these plates to King Benjamin, because he is a man of God. I want to tell everyone to come to God, and believe in prophecies and revelations, and in angels, and in the gift of tongues, and in everything good. All good things come from God, and all evil things come from the devil.
26 Brothers and sisters, come to Christ, the Holy One of Israel, and be saved by him. Give your whole soul to him as a sacrifice. Fast and pray and endure to the end. If you do these things, as the Lord lives, you will be saved.
27 Now I want to tell you about some people who went through the wilderness to go back to the land of Nephi, because they wanted to own the land there again.
28 They went through the wilderness, but their leader was a strong and stubborn man who began a fight among them. All except fifty of them were killed in the wilderness; and the fifty came back to the land of Zarahemla.
29 They got many others to go with them into the wilderness again.
30 I, Amaleki, had a brother who went with them. I do not know what has happened to them. I am just about to die, and there is no more room on these plates, so I will stop writing now.
easyreadbkmormon.com 