INTRODUCTION
1 I, Creator Is Chief (Nephi), was born to good parents who had me schooled the same as my father before me. I have seen many hard seasons, but I have also been highly favored of Creator in all my days. And so, with great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of Creator, I make a record of my life.
2And I write it in the language of my father, which is a mix of the ways of our tribal members and the language of the people of Black Land (Egypt). 3I know My record is true because I am making it with my own hand by my own knowledge.
JAWBONE'S AWAKENING
4In the first winter when Creator Is Righteous (Zedekiah) became king of the Land of Promise (Judah), including Village of Peace (Jerusalem) where we lived, there came many holy men prophesying to the people that they must return to the right ways of thinking and doing or else Village of Peace (Jerusalem) would be destroyed. 5This made my father, Jawbone (Lehi), pray to Creator with all his heart on behalf of his fellow Tribal Members.
6As he prayed to the Great Spirit, a tower of fire came down and sat on a rock before him. In this sacred vision he saw and heard much. And the things which he saw and heard made him weak and afraid.
7He stumbled back to his own dwelling at Village of Peace (Jerusalem) and he fell on his bed, still shaken with the Spirit and the things which he had seen. 8In this state, he was carried away in another sacred vision.
He saw the spirit-world above open, and he thought he saw the Great Spirit sitting upon his seat of honor, surrounded with great numbers of spirit-warriors singing and praising their Great Chief. He then saw One that came down from the spirit-world whose light was stronger than the full strength of the sun. 10And he also saw twelve others following him whose light was stronger than the stars in the sky. 11They came together and went down to the earth below. And the first spirit-warrior came and stood in front of my father and gave him a scroll, asking him to read it. 12And as he read, the Spirit of Creator started to fill him with his life and power.
13“Sorrow and trouble! Sorrow and trouble are coming to Village of Peace (Jerusalem)!” he read, “for Creator sees your impure ways!”
My father read many things concerning the great Village of Peace (Jerusalem). He read that the village and its people were going to be destroyed. And he read that many were going to be cut down by long knives. And he read that many were going to be taken away into Babylon. 14But when my father rolled up the scroll and finished his sacred vision, he gave loud praise to the Great Spirit.
“All that you do is powerful and full of wonder,” he said. “You are the All-Powerful One! Your great seat of honor is high in the spirit-world above. Your power, goodness, and kindness are over all nations. And because you are kind, you do not let those who come to you fade away!”
15This is how my father praised his Creator because his heart was dancing in him and it was filled with Creator’s life and power for the things the Creator had shown him.
MERCY IN CONTEXT
16And now I, Creator Is Chief (Nephi), will not tell all the things my father did because he wrote many of his visions and dreams in his own sacred record. He also has written his prophecies and teachings to his family. But I will not write much of those things 17because I have my own story to tell.
So, using metal sheets that I have made I am going to write about part of the road Creator set before my father, and then I am going to write about the road Creator set before me.
18The important thing I want you to know is that after Creator had shown so many wondrous things to my father, Jawbone (Lehi), about the destruction of the great Village of Peace (Jerusalem), he went out into the village and started to prophesy and to tell them about what things he saw and heard from Creator. 19But the Tribal Members mocked him for the things he spoke against them because he did not hold back about their worthless and impure ways. He also told them how his sacred vision and the things that he read in the scroll showed that the Chosen One was coming to mend the sacred hoop of life.
20When the Tribal Members heard these things they were angry with him. And just like they had done with the prophets of old—throwing them out of their villages and picking up stones to kill them—they also tried to kill him!
But I will show you that the tender mercies of the Great Spirit are over all those he has chosen, because of their faith, to make them soar as the eagles high above the arrows that fly at them.
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