1And now, I, Nephi, speak concerning the prophecies of which my father hath spoken, concerning aJoseph, who was carried into Egypt.
2For behold, he truly prophesied concerning all his seed. And theaprophecies which he wrote, there are not many greater. And he prophesied concerning us, and our future generations; and they are written upon the bplates of brass.
3Wherefore, after my father had made an end of speaking concerning the prophecies of Joseph, he called the children of Laman, his sons, and his daughters, and said unto them: Behold, my sons, and my daughters, who are the sons and the daughters of my afirst-born, I would that ye should give ear unto my words.
4For the Lord God hath said that: aInasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.
5But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a ablessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are bbrought up in the cway ye should go ye will not depart from it.
6Wherefore, if ye are acursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the bcursing may be taken from you and be answered upon the cheads of your parents.
7Wherefore, because of my blessing the Lord God will anot suffer that ye shall perish; wherefore, he will be bmerciful unto you and unto your seed forever.
8And it came to pass that after my father had made an end of speaking to the sons and daughters of Laman, he caused the sons and daughters of Lemuel to be brought before him.
9And he spake unto them, saying: Behold, my sons and my daughters, who are the sons and the daughters of my second son; behold I leave unto you the same blessing which I left unto the sons and daughters of Laman; wherefore, thou shalt not utterly be destroyed; but in the end thy seed shall be blessed.
10And it came to pass that when my father had made an end of speaking unto them, behold, he spake unto the sons of aIshmael, yea, and even all his household.
11And after he had made an end of speaking unto them, he spake unto Sam, saying: Blessed art thou, and thy aseed; for thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother Nephi. And thy seed shall be numbered with his seed; and thou shalt be even like unto thy brother, and thy seed like unto his seed; and thou shalt be blessed in all thy days.
12And it came to pass after my father, Lehi, had aspoken unto all his household, according to the feelings of his heart and the Spirit of the Lord which was in him, he waxed bold. And it came to pass that he died, and was buried.
13And it came to pass that not many days after his death, Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael were aangry with me because of the admonitions of the Lord.
14For I, Nephi, was constrained to speak unto them, according to his word; for I had spoken many things unto them, and also my father, before his death; many of which sayings are written upon mine aother plates; for a more history part are written upon mine other plates.
15And upon athese I bwrite the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul cdelighteth in the scriptures, and my heart dpondereththem, and writeth them for the elearning and the profit of my children.
16Behold, my asoul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and mybheart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.
17Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great agoodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O bwretched man that I am! Yea, my heart csorrowethbecause of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
19And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have atrusted.
20My God hath been my asupport; he hath led me through minebafflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
23Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given meaknowledge by bvisions in the night-time.
24And by day have I waxed bold in mighty aprayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me.
25And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been acarriedaway upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.
26O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath avisited men in so much bmercy, cwhy should my dheart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?
27And why should I ayield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to btemptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my cpeace and afflict my soul? Why am Idangry because of mine enemy?
28Awake, my soul! No longer adroop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the benemy of my soul.
29Do not aanger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.
30Rejoice, O my aheart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the brock of my salvation.
31O Lord, wilt thou aredeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of bsin?
32May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my aheart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I maybwalk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!
33O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thyarighteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine benemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.
34O Lord, I have atrusted in thee, and I will btrust in thee forever. I will not put my ctrust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his dtrust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.
35Yea, I know that God will give aliberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I bask cnot amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the drockof my erighteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.
Thoughts:
Jason: Lehi understands the effects of righteous/unrighteous parenting. The fact that Laman and Lemuel's seed would not be taught the gospel was clear. Lehi is feeling for the welfare of his grandchildren and teaches that the parents are responsible for teaching the children the right way and that there is a consequence to that responsibility. Parents are under a great commission as teachers in the gospel, and will be accountable for their efforts. Not judged in terms of number of children that followed but judged by how diligently they taught the gospel to their children. There will be no excuse that we can give the Lord at judgment that will excuse us from answering for our efforts. We are his children as well. If we sent our children to a babysitter and they did not watch over and take care of them we would not be pleased. They same goes for our heavenly father. These children are his and he loves them and wants them to at least be taught the way and given the opportunity of making a informed decision on whether to live the gospel or not. If children are taught the gospel and they choose a different path then they will be accountable for their choices. Children who are not raised by parents who are faithful in their callings will still be given a chance to accept the gospel and the parents who knew better will have to answer for the delayed progression of those who follow there unrighteous example.
As Lehi prepares to take the next step in his progression I can only imagine the power and feeling that must have been in these final discussions with his children.
We gain an insight as to the character of Nephi. He is not following the gospel because his parents told him to. In addition to a strong testimony the gospel has become who he is and what he wants to be. In this way Nephi is on his way to becoming one with the Father. Nephi indicates a desire to shake at the appearance of sin. Often times we want to push the boundaries and see how close we can be to things of the world while still keeping our feet planted in the gospel. This movies only has one scene that is immoral or this song has an awesome beat ...i don't really listen to the words... etc. This strategy has disaster written all over it. We are to stay clear of even the appearance of physical/spiritual danger. If we stay to close to the things of the world saying they are just little temptations/sins/weaknesses we are setting ourselves up to fall. We must be vigilant in our defense of our souls. We must set ourselves far from the danger in the safety of gospel principles. We must not stray from the gospel in the least bit for even a little while. Satan does not care what he can get us to do as long as we are not doing the Lords work. He will succeed if he can get us to do good things when we should be doing great things.
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