pgs. 4 and 5...he built an altar of stones and made an offering unto the Lord.

5 And he came down by the borders near the shore of the ^aRed Sea; and he traveled in the wilderness in the borders which are nearer the Red Sea; and he did travel in the wilderness with his family, which consisted of my mother, Sariah, and my elder brothers, who were Laman, Lemuel, and Sam.

6 And it came to pass that when he had traveled three days in the wilderness, he pitched his tent in a ^avalley by the side of a ^briver of water.

7 And it came to pass that he built an ^aaltar of ^bstones, and made an ^coffering unto the Lord, and gave ^dthanks unto the Lord our God.

8 And it came to pass that he called the name of the river, Laman, and it emptied into the Red Sea; and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof.

9 And when my father saw that the waters of the river emptied into the ^afountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!

10 And he also spake unto Lemuel: O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, ^afirm and ^bsteadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!

11 Now this he spake because of the ^astiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did ^bmurmur in many things against their ^cfather, because he was a ^dvisionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.

12 And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their ^afather. And they did ^bmurmur because they ^cknew not the dealings of that God who had ^dcreated them.

13 Neither did they ^abelieve that Jerusalem, that great city, could be ^bdestroyed according to the words of the prophets. And they were like unto the Jews who were at Jerusalem, who sought to take away the life of my father.

14 And it came to pass that my father did speak unto them in the ^avalley of Lemuel, with ^bpower, being filled with the Spirit, until their frames did ^cshake before him. And he did confound them, that they durst not utter against him; wherefore, they did as he commanded them.

15 And my father dwelt in a ^atent.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the ^amysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did ^bvisit me, and did ^csoften my heart that I did ^dbelieve all the words which had been spoken by my ^efather; wherefore, I did not ^frebel against him like unto my brothers.

17 And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words.

18 But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being ^agrieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them.

19 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy ^afaith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.

20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall ^aprosper, and shall be led to a ^bland of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.

21 And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be ^acut off from the presence of the Lord.

22 And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ^aruler and a teacher over thy brethren.

23 For behold, in that day that they shall ^arebel against me, I will ^bcurse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall ^crebel against me also.

24 And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a ^ascourge unto thy seed, to ^bstir them up in the ways of remembrance.

* VERSE 4 (600 B.C.).

CHAPTER 3

Lehi’s sons return to Jerusalem to obtain the plates of brass—Laban refuses to give them up—Nephi exhorts and encourages his brethren—Laban steals their property and attempts to slay them—Laman and Lemuel smite Nephi and are reproved by an angel. Between 600 and 592 B.C.

1 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from ^aspeaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father.

2 And it came to pass that he spake unto me, saying: Behold I have dreamed a ^adream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall ^breturn to Jerusalem.

3 For behold, Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a ^agenealogy of my forefathers, and they are ^bengraven upon plates of brass.

4 Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness.

5 And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord.


Lehi's actions in verse 7 show true discipleship. He built an altar of stones and made an offering and gave thanks unto the Lord. We know that this was in obedience to a commandment found in Exodus 20:24-26 and Deuteronomy 27:5-6 which means Lehi was doing what all of us are trying to do...learn and follow the commandments given in the scriptures.
I read a story in the Ensign a while ago written by a woman who crocheted a beautiful cloth to be used in a new LDS temple that was being built in her area. What I remember from the story was that she worked tirelessly for hours and hours and was determined to have it be perfect and beautiful for all who came to the temple to see. When she was finished she was ironing it and noticed a small mistake in one of the sections of her pattern. She was so sad. She couldn't understand how she had missed it earlier and only noticed it now that it was too late to be fixed. At first she thought she would have to start all over but after praying about it she felt at peace about giving it to the temple. They accepted it and she realized that even though we are not perfect we can still show the Lord we love and respect Him by giving him offerings and making sacrifices for Him. He will accept our sincere efforts. It seems to me that Lehi understood this and that is why one of the first things he did when he arrived in the wilderness was build an altar.