19. And behold instead of gathering you, exce repent, behold he shall scatter you forth that ye sha meat for dogs and wild beasts. 20. Oh! how could you have forgotten your G very day that he has delivered you? 21. But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And set your hearts upon the riches and the vain thing world, for the which ye do murder, and plunder, a and bear false witness against your neighbour, a manner of iniquity; 22. And for this cause wo shall come unto you shall repent. For if ye will not repent, behold this g and also all those great cities which are round abo are in the land of our possession, shall be taken a ye shall have no place in them; for behold, the Lord grant unto you strength, as he has hitherto done, stand against your enemies. 23. For behold, thus saith the Lord, I will not sl the wicked of my strength, to one more than the ot it be unto those who repent of their sins, and hear my words; now therefore I would that ye should my brethren, that it shall be better for the Lamani for you, except ye shall repent; 24. For behold, they are more righteous than they have not sinned against that great knowledge have received; therefore the Lord will be mercif them; yea, he will "lengthen out their days and their seed, even when thou shalt be 'utterly destroyed thou shalt repent; 25. Yea, wo be unto you because of that great a tion which has come among you; and ye have unite selves unto it; yea, to that 'secret band which was esta by Gadianton; 26. Yea, wo shall come unto you because of tha which ye have suffered to enter your hearts, which ha you up beyond that which is good because of your ex great riches; 27. Yea, wo be unto you because of your wickedn abominations. 28. And except ye repent ye shall perish; yea, eve lands shall be taken from you, and ye shall be des from off the face of the earth. 29. Behold now I do not say that these things sh of myself, because it is not of myself that I know these but behold I know that these things are true, becau Lord God has made them known unto me, therefore I that they shall be. h, see j, Alma 9. i, see m, Alma 9. Alma 9. 3, sce i, IL Nep. 10. CHAPTER 8. 1. AND now it came to pass that when Nephi had said these words, behold there were men who were judges, who also belonged to the "secret band of Gadianton, and they were angry, and they cried out against him, saying unto the people, Why do ye not seize upon this man and bring him forth, that he may be condemned according to the crime which he has done? 2. Why seest this man, and hearest him revile against this people and against our law? 3. For behold, Nephi had spoken unto them concerning the corruptness of their law; yea, many things did Nephi speak which cannot be written; and nothing did he speak which was contrary to the commandments of God. 4. And those judges were angry with him because he spake plain unto them concerning their 'secret works of darkness; nevertheless they durst not lay their own hands upon him, for they feared the people lest they should cry out against them; 5. Therefore they did cry unto the people, saying, Why do you suffer this man to revile against us? For behold he doth condemn all this people, even unto destruction; yea, and also that these our great cities shall be taken from us, that we shall have no place in them. 6. And now we know that this is impossible, for behold, we are powerful, and our cities great, therefore our enemies can have no power over us. 7. And it came to pass that thus they did stir up the people to anger against Nephi, and raised contentions among them; for there were some who did cry out, let this man alone, for he is a good man, and those things which he saith will surely come to pass except we repent; 8. Yea, behold all the judgments will come upon us which he has testified unto us; for we know that he has testified aright unto us concerning our iniquities. And behold they are many, and he knoweth as well all things which shall befall us as he knoweth of our iniquities; 9. Yea, and behold if he had not been a prophet, he could not have testified concerning those things. 10. And it came to pass that those people who sought to destroy Nephi, were compelled because of their fear, that they did not lay their hands on him; therefore he began again to speak unto them, seeing that he had gained favour in the eyes of some, insomuch that the remainder of them did fear; 11. Therefore he was constrained to speak more unto them saying, Behold my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, a, see i, II. Nep. 10. b, see i, II. Nep. 10. c, Hela. 7:22. insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fat through upon dry ground, and the waters closed armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up? 12. And now behold, if God gave unto this power then why should ye dispute among yourselv that he hath given unto me no power whereby I m concerning the judgments that shall come upon you repent? 13. But, behold, ye not only deny my words, b deny all the words which hath been spoken by ou and also the words which were spoken by t Moses, who had such great power given unto him words which he hath spoken concerning the comi Messiah. 14. Yea, did he not bear record, that the So should come? And as he lifted up the brazen s the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up wh come. 15. And as many as should look upon that serper live, even so, as many as should look upon the So with faith, having a contrite spirit, míght live, ev that life which is eternal. 16. And now behold, Moses did not only testify things, but also all the holy prophets, from his days the days of Abraham. 17. Yea, and behold, Abraham saw of his com was filled with gladness and did rejoice. 18. Yea, and behold I say unto you, that Abral only knew of these things, but there were many be days of Abraham who were called by the 'order yea, even after the order of his Son; and this that i be shewn unto the people a great many thousan before his coming, that even redemption should con them. 19. And now I would that ye should know, th since the days of Abraham, there have been many p that have testified these things; yea, behold, t phet Zenos did testify boldly; for the which slain. 20. And behold, also "Zeneck, and also 'Ezias, a Isaiah, and Jeremiah, (Jeremiah being that same who testified of the destruction of Jerusalem.) An we know that Jerusalem was destroyed according words of Jeremiah. O then why not the Son of God according to his prophecy? 21. And now will you dispute that Jerusalem w stroyed? Will ye say that the sons of Zedekiah. we 19. C, Hela. 7: 28, 29. e, Alma 33: 19-22. ƒ, see g, Mos. 26. A h, see g, 1 i, Ezias may have been identical with Esaias who lived cotempora Abraham. See Doc. and Cov. 84: 11- 13. slain, all except it were Mulek? Yea, and do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem? But behold, this is not all. 22. Our father Lehi was driven out of Jerusalem, because he testified of these things. Nephi also testified of these things, and also almost all of our fathers, even down to this time; yea, they have testified of the coming of Christ, and have looked forward, and have rejoiced in his day which is to come. 23. And behold, he is God, and he is with them, and he did manifest himself unto them, that they were redeemed by him; and they gave unto him glory, because of that which is to come. 24. And now seeing ye know these things, and cannot deny them, except ye shall lie, therefore in this ye have sinned, for ye have rejected all these things, notwithstanding so many evidences which ye have received; yea, even ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth, as a witness that they are true. 25. But behold, ye have rejected the truth, and rebelled against your holy God; and even at this time, instead of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt, and where nothing can come which is unclean, ve are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment; 26. Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders, and your fornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction; yea, and except ye repent, it will come unto you soon; 27. Yea, behold it is now even at your doors; yea, go ye in unto the judgment seat, and search; and behold, your Judge is murdered, and he lieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered 'by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment seat. 28. And behold, they both belong to your "secret band, whose author is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men CHAPTER 9. 1. BEHOLD now it came to pass that when Nephi had spoken these words, certain men who were among them ran to the judgment seat; yea, even there were "five who went, and they said among themselves, as they went, 2. Behold, now we will know of a surety, w man be a prophet, and God hath commanded 1 phesy such marvellous things unto us. Behold, believe that he hath; yea, we do not believe th prophet; nevertheless, if this thing which he ha cerning the Chief Judge be true, that he be dead we believe that the other words which he has true. 3. And it came to pass that they ran in their came in unto the judgment seat; and behold Judge had fallen to the earth, and did 'lie in his b 4. And now behold, when they saw this, astonished exceedingly, insomuch that they fell to for they had not believed the words which Nephi h concerning the Chief Judge; 5. But now when they saw they believed, and upon them, lest all the judgments which Nephi ha should come upon the people; therefore they d and had fallen to the earth. 6. Now immediately when the Judge had been n he being stabbed by his brother by a garb of sec he fled, and the servants ran and told the peopl the cry of murder among them. 7. And behold the people did gather themselves unto the place of the judgment seat; and behold astonishment they saw those five men who had the earth. 8. And now behold, the people knew nothing co the multitude who had gathered together at the "g Nephi; therefore they said among themselves, th are they who bave murdered the Judge, and God has them that they could not flee from us. 9. And it came to pass that they laid hold on th bound them, and cast them into prison. And the proclamation sent abroad that the Judge was sla that the murderers had been taken, and were c prison. 10. And it came to pass that on the morrow, the did assemble themselves together to mourn and to the burial of the great Chief Judge who had been sla 11. And thus were also those judges who were garden of Nephi, and heard his words, were also g together at the burial. 12. And it came to pass that they inquired amo people, saying, where are the "five who were sent to concerning the Chief Judge whether he was dead they answered and said, concerning this five whom ye have sent, we know not; but there are five who murderers, whom we have cast into prison. b, Hela. 8:27. c, see l, Hela. 8. 7. вее а. d, see a. e, Hela. 7:10 |