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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
* 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.
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.
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.
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