pgs. 32 and 33...and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water.

19 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake much unto them concerning these things; yea, I spake unto them concerning the ^arestoration of the Jews in the latter days.

20 And I did rehearse unto them the words of ^aIsaiah, who spake ^bconcerning the ^crestoration 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 pass that I did speak many words unto my brethren, that they were pacified and did ^dhumble themselves before the Lord.

21 And it came to pass that they did speak unto me again, saying: What meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the ^atree which he saw?

22 And I said unto them: It was a representation of the ^atree of life.

23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the ^arod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?

24 And I said unto them that it was the ^aword of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would ^bhold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the ^ctemptations and the fiery ^ddarts of the ^eadversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

25 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give ^aheed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the ^bfaculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things.

26 And they said unto me: What meaneth the ^ariver of water which our father saw?

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

28 And I said unto them that it was an awful ^agulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.

29 And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful ^ahell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked.

30 And I said unto them that our father also saw that the ^ajustice of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous; and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming ^bfire, which ascendeth up unto God forever and ever, and hath no end.

31 And they said unto me: Doth this thing mean the torment of the body in the days of ^aprobation, or doth it mean the final state of the soul after the ^bdeath of the temporal body, or doth it speak of the things which are temporal?

32 And it came to pass 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 ^aworks, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of ^bprobation.

33 Wherefore, if they should ^adie in their wickedness they must be ^bcast off also, as to the things which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness; wherefore, they must be brought to stand before God, to be ^cjudged of their ^dworks; and if their works have been filthiness they must needs be ^efilthy; and if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot ^fdwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also.

34 But behold, I say unto you, the kingdom of God is not filthy, and there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God; wherefore there must needs be a place of ^afilthiness prepared for that which is filthy.

35 And there is a place prepared, yea, even that ^aawful ^bhell of which I have spoken, and the ^cdevil is the preparator of it; wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that ^djustice of which I have spoken.

36 Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that ^atree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most ^bdesirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the ^cgreatest of all the ^dgifts of God. And thus I spake unto my brethren. Amen.

CHAPTER 16

The wicked take the truth to be hard—Lehi’s sons marry the daughters of Ishmael—The Liahona guides their course in the wilderness—Messages from the Lord are written on the Liahona from time to time—Ishmael dies; his family murmur because of afflictions. Between 600 and 592 B.C.

1 And now it came to pass 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.

2 And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken ^ahard 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 ^bguilty taketh the ^ctruth to be hard, for it ^dcutteth them to the very center.

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 ^awalk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us.

4 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did exhort my brethren, with all diligence, to keep the commandments of the Lord.

5 And it came to pass that they did ^ahumble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness.

6 Now, all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the ^avalley which he called Lemuel.


Lehi's dream must be so important for all of us to understand because it is taught again in this chapter. In these verses the dream is being explained to Laman and Lemuel by Nephi. In verse 26 Laman and Lemuel ask what the river of water represents. Nephi's answer in verse 27 is what my Mom calls "the key to good mental health." He tells his brother that the river is filthiness but Lehi's mind was "swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water." Lehi was so caught up in and focused on the good that there was no room in his mind for the bad. Isn't that a great lesson for all of us?

Another important message is in chapter 16 verse 2 where Nephi tells Laman and Lemuel that the truth "cutteth" the wicked but it "justifies" the righteous. My Mom was explaining to me that this is a good measuring stick for all of us to evaluate ourselves...do we find the truth painful or glorious?