The Book of Mormon Part 8

1 Nephi 15:8 8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

1 Nephi 15:9 9 And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

1 Nephi 15:10 10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?

1 Nephi 15:11 11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

1 Nephi 15:12 12 Behold, I say unto you, that the house of Israel was compared unto an olive-tree, by the Spirit of the Lord which was in our father; and behold are we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the house of Israel?

1 Nephi 15:13 13 And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the s.p.a.ce of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed--

1 Nephi 15:14 14 And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved.

1 Nephi 15:15 15 And then at that day will they not rejoice and give praise unto their everlasting G.o.d, their rock and their salvation? Yea, at that day, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine? Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of G.o.d?

1 Nephi 15:16 16 Behold, I say unto you, Yea; they shall be remembered again among the house of Israel; they shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive-tree, into the true olive-tree.

1 Nephi 15:17 17 And this is what our father meaneth; and he meaneth that it will not come to pa.s.s until after they are scattered by the Gentiles; and he meaneth that it shall come by way of the Gentiles, that the Lord may show his power unto the Gentiles, for the very cause that he shall be rejected of the Jews, or of the house of Israel.

1 Nephi 15:18 18 Wherefore, our father hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also of all the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be fulfilled in the latter days; which covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

1 Nephi 15:19 19 And it came to pa.s.s that I, Nephi, spake much unto them concerning these things; yea, I spake unto them concerning the restoration of the Jews in the latter days.

1 Nephi 15:20 20 And I did rehea.r.s.e unto them the words of Isaiah, who spake concerning the restoration of the Jews, or of the house of Israel; and after they were restored they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again. And it came to pa.s.s that I did speak many words unto my brethren, that they were pacified and did humble themselves before the Lord.

1 Nephi 15:21 21 And it came to pa.s.s that they did speak unto me again, saying: What meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream?

What meaneth the tree which he saw?

1 Nephi 15:22 22 And I said unto them: It was a representation of the tree of life.

1 Nephi 15:23 23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?

1 Nephi 15:24 24 And I said unto them that it was the word of G.o.d, and whose would hearken unto the word of G.o.d, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

1 Nephi 15:25 25 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of G.o.d and remember to keep his commandments always in all things.

1 Nephi 15:26 26 And they said unto me: What meaneth the river of water which our father saw?

1 Nephi 15:27 27 And I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water.

1 Nephi 15:28 28 And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of G.o.d.

1 Nephi 15:29 29 And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful h.e.l.l, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked.

1 Nephi 15:30 30 And I said unto them that our father also saw that the justice of G.o.d did also divide the wicked from the righteous; and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire, which ascendeth up unto G.o.d forever and ever, and hath no end.

1 Nephi 15:31 31 And they said unto me: Doth this thing mean the torment of the body in the days of probation, or doth it mean the final state of the soul after the death of the temporal body, or doth it speak of the things which are temporal?

1 Nephi 15:32 32 And it came to pa.s.s that I said unto them that it was a representation of things both temporal and spiritual; for the day should come that they must be judged of their works, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation.

1 Nephi 15:33 33 Wherefore, if they should die in their wickedness they must be cast off also, as to the things which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness; wherefore, they must be brought to stand before G.o.d, to be judged of their works; and if their works have been filthiness they must needs be filthy; and if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the kingdom of G.o.d; if so, the kingdom of G.o.d must be filthy also.

1 Nephi 15:34 34 But behold, I say unto you, the kingdom of G.o.d is not filthy, and there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of G.o.d; wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy.

1 Nephi 15:35 35 And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful h.e.l.l of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it; wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the kingdom of G.o.d, or to be cast out because of that justice of which I have spoken.

1 Nephi 15:36 36 Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of G.o.d. And thus I spake unto my brethren. Amen.

1 Nephi 16 Chapter 16

1 Nephi 16:1 1 And now it came to pa.s.s that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold they said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.

1 Nephi 16:2 2 And it came to pa.s.s that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.

1 Nephi 16:3 3 And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before G.o.d, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us.

1 Nephi 16:4 4 And it came to pa.s.s that I, Nephi, did exhort my brethren, with all diligence, to keep the commandments of the Lord.

1 Nephi 16:5 5 And it came to pa.s.s that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness.

1 Nephi 16:6 6 Now, all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the valley which he called Lemuel.

1 Nephi 16:7 7 And it came to pa.s.s that I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also, my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife.

1 Nephi 16:8 8 And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And also, I, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.

1 Nephi 16:9 9 And it came to pa.s.s that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father by night, and commanded him that on the morrow he should take his journey into the wilderness.

1 Nephi 16:10 10 And it came to pa.s.s that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmans.h.i.+p; and it was of fine bra.s.s. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.

1 Nephi 16:11 11 And it came to pa.s.s that we did gather together whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness, and all the remainder of our provisions which the Lord had given unto us; and we did take seed of every kind that we might carry into the wilderness.

1 Nephi 16:12 12 And it came to pa.s.s that we did take our tents and depart into the wilderness, across the river Laman.

1 Nephi 16:13 13 And it came to pa.s.s that we traveled for the s.p.a.ce of four days, nearly a south-southeast direction, and we did pitch our tents again; and we did call the name of the place Shazer.

1 Nephi 16:14 14 And it came to pa.s.s that we did take our bows and our arrows, and go forth into the wilderness to slay food for our families; and after we had slain food for our families we did return again to our families in the wilderness, to the place of Shazer. And we did go forth again in the wilderness, following the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness, which were in the borders near the Red Sea.

1 Nephi 16:15 15 And it came to pa.s.s that we did travel for the s.p.a.ce of many days, slaying food by the way, with our bows and our arrows and our stones and our slings.

1 Nephi 16:16 16 And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness.

1 Nephi 16:17 17 And after we had traveled for the s.p.a.ce of many days, we did pitch our tents for the s.p.a.ce of a time, that we might again rest ourselves and obtain food for our families.

1 Nephi 16:18 18 And it came to pa.s.s that as I, Nephi, went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow, which was made of fine steel; and after I did break my bow, behold, my brethren were angry with me because of the loss of my bow, for we did obtain no food.

1 Nephi 16:19 19 And it came to pa.s.s that we did return without food to our families, and being much fatigued, because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of food.