pgs. 52 and 53...and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.

17 Wherefore, he will ^apreserve the ^brighteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.

18 Behold, my brethren, I say unto you, that these things must shortly come; yea, even blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke must come; and it must needs be upon the face of this earth; and it cometh unto men according to the flesh if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel.

19 For behold, the righteous shall not perish; for the time surely must come that all they who fight against Zion shall be cut off.

20 And the Lord will surely ^aprepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A ^bprophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be ^ccut off from among the people.

21 And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this ^aprophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute ^bjudgment in righteousness.

22 And the righteous need not fear, for they are those who shall not be confounded. But it is the kingdom of the devil, which shall be built up among the children of men, which kingdom is established among them which are in the flesh—

23 For the time speedily shall come that all ^achurches which are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who are built up to become ^bpopular in the eyes of the world, and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the ^cdevil are they who need fear, and tremble, and ^dquake; they are those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be ^econsumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet.

24 And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as ^acalves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion, and might, and power, and great ^bglory.

25 And he ^agathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his ^bsheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find ^cpasture.

26 And because of the ^arighteousness of his people, ^bSatan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of ^cmany years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel ^dreigneth.

27 And now behold, I, Nephi, say unto you that all these things must come ^aaccording to the flesh.

28 But, behold, all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that they will ^arepent.

29 And now I, Nephi, make an end; for I durst not speak further as yet concerning these things.

30 Wherefore, my brethren, I would that ye should consider that the things which have been written upon the ^aplates of brass are true; and they testify that a man must be obedient to the commandments of God.

31 Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the ^acommandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen.

THE SECOND BOOK OF NEPHI

An account of the death of Lehi. Nephi’s brethren rebel against him. The Lord warns Nephi to depart into the wilderness. His journeyings in the wilderness, and so forth.

CHAPTER 1

Lehi prophesies of a land of liberty—His seed shall be scattered and smitten if they reject the Holy One of Israel—He exhorts his sons to put on the armor of righteousness. Between 588 and 570 B.C.

1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of teaching my brethren, our ^afather, Lehi, also spake many things unto them, and rehearsed unto them, how great things the Lord had done for them in bringing them out of the land of Jerusalem.

2 And he spake unto them concerning their ^arebellions upon the waters, and the mercies of God in sparing their lives, that they were not swallowed up in the sea.

3 And he also spake unto them concerning the land of promise, which they had obtained—how ^amerciful the Lord had been in ^bwarning us that we should flee out of the land of Jerusalem.

4 For, behold, said he, I have ^aseen a ^bvision, in which I know that ^cJerusalem is ^ddestroyed; and had we remained in Jerusalem we should also have ^eperished.

5 But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a ^aland of promise, a land which is ^bchoice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath ^ccovenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath ^dcovenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be ^eled out of other countries by the hand of the Lord.


I've always loved the imagery of the Lord being our Shepherd. In the chapel I attended as a little girl there was a stained glass window in the back with the Savior holding a sheep on his neck and all surrounded by sheep. I know it is unusual for an LDS chapel to have stained glass but for some reason ours did. And I remember a lot of sacrament meetings staring at that stained glass to pass the time. I couldn't figure out then exactly why the Savior was standing with sheep. Now that I have more life experience I can see exactly why he referred to as the Good Shephard and why all of us need a Shepherd as wonderful as the Savior.