pgs. 44 and 45...the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet.

CHAPTER 19

Nephi makes plates of ore and records the history of his people—The God of Israel shall come six hundred years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem—Nephi tells of His sufferings and crucifixion—The Jews shall be despised and scattered until the latter days, when they will return unto the Lord. Between 588 and 570 B.C.

1 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, wherefore I did make plates of ore that I might engraven upon them the ^arecord of my people. And upon the plates which I made I did ^bengraven the record of my ^cfather, and also our journeyings in the wilderness, and the prophecies of my father; and also many of mine own prophecies have I engraven upon them.

2 And I knew not at the time when I made them that I should be commanded of the Lord to make ^athese plates; wherefore, the record of my father, and the genealogy of his fathers, and the more part of all our proceedings in the wilderness are engraven upon those first plates of which I have spoken; wherefore, the things which transpired before I made ^bthese plates are, of a truth, more particularly made mention upon the first plates.

3 And after I had made these plates by way of commandment, I, Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon ^athese plates; and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land, and also for other ^bwise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord.

4 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did make a record upon the ^aother plates, which gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and destructions of my people. And this have I done, and commanded my people what they should do after I was gone; and that these plates should be handed down from one generation to another, or from one prophet to another, until further commandments of the Lord.

5 And an account of my ^amaking these plates shall be given hereafter; and then, behold, I proceed according to that which I have spoken; and this I do that the more sacred things may be ^bkept for the knowledge of my people.

6 Nevertheless, I do not ^awrite anything upon plates save it be that I think it be ^bsacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the ^cweakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself.

7 For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at ^anaught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men ^btrample under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other words—they set him at naught, and ^chearken not to the voice of his counsels.

8 And behold he ^acometh, according to the words of the angel, in ^bsix hundred years from the time my father left Jerusalem.

9 And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they ^aspit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving ^bkindness and his ^clong-suffering towards the children of men.

10 And the ^aGod of our fathers, who were ^bled out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the ^cGod of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, ^dyieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of ^ewicked men, to be ^flifted up, according to the words of ^gZenock, and to be ^hcrucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a ⁱsepulchre, according to the words of ^jZenos, which he spake concerning the three days of ^kdarkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who are of the ^lhouse of Israel.

11 For thus spake the prophet: The Lord God surely shall ^avisit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his ^bvoice, because of their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others with the ^cthunderings and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and by ^dsmoke, and ^evapor of ^fdarkness, and by the opening of the ^gearth, and by ^hmountains which shall be carried up.

12 And ^aall these things must surely come, saith the prophet ^bZenos. And the ^crocks of the earth must rend; and because of the ^dgroanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers.

13 And as for those who are at Jerusalem, saith the prophet, they shall be ^ascourged by all people, because they crucify the God of Israel, and turn their hearts aside, rejecting signs and wonders, and the power and glory of the God of Israel.

14 And because they turn their hearts aside, saith the prophet, and have ^adespised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a ^bhiss and a ^cbyword, and be ^dhated among all nations.

15 Nevertheless, when that day cometh, saith the prophet, that they ^ano more ^bturn aside their hearts against the Holy One of Israel, then will he remember the ^ccovenants which he made to their fathers.

16 Yea, then will he remember the ^aisles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I ^bgather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth.

17 Yea, and all the earth shall ^asee the salvation of the Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed.

It is nice to read Nephi's explanation to all of us in verse 6 asking us to excuse him if we don't agree with his definition of what is sacred. To me it shows humility and makes him seem more human and real. I'm sure it must have been hard for him to decide what to write in which set of plates. I think all of us struggle with that in our own journal writing. We want to record the things that will be most beneficial to us and our posterity in the future but sometimes it is hard to know what those things will be when we are actually living them. I am thankful to Nephi...I think he did a great job and I hope to never "trample his teachings under my feet!"