What are you doing?
Joseph, the Lord has commanded me to make plates of ore
for the instruction of our people.
Nephi, Jacob, everyone come.
Your father wishes to speak to you.
I have seen a vision,
in which I know that Jerusalem is destroyed;
and had we remained in Jerusalem we should also have perished.
Notwithstanding our afflictions,
we have obtained a land of promise,
a land which is choice above all other lands.
Wherefore, this land is consecrated
unto him whom the Lord shall bring.
And if they shall keep His commandments
they shall be blessed upon the face of this land.
But behold, when the time cometh
that they shall dwindle in unbelief,
after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—
if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel,
the true Messiah,
their Redeemer and their God,
behold, the judgments of Him that is just
shall rest upon them.
-Father doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
-Awake! and arise from the dust,
and hear the words of a trembling parent.
My heart hath been weighed down with sorrow,
for I have feared, lest for the hardness of your hearts
that the Lord your God should come out
in the fulness of His wrath upon you,
that ye be cut off
and destroyed forever.
Rebel no more against your brother,
whose views have been glorious,
and who hath been an instrument
in the hands of God,
in bringing us forth into the land of promise;
for were it not for him,
we must have perished with hunger in the wilderness;
nevertheless, ye sought to take away his life;
yea, and he hath suffered much sorrow because of you.
If ye will not hearken unto him
I take away my first blessing,
and it shall rest upon him.
And now, Jacob.
Father?
I speak unto you:
Thou art my firstborn
in the days of my tribulation in the wilderness.
Thou knowest the greatness of God;
and He shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.
I know that thou art redeemed,
because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer.
Thou hast beheld in thy youth His glory;
and the Spirit is the same,
yesterday, today, and forever.
And the way is prepared from the fall of man,
and salvation is free.
Men are instructed sufficiently
that they know good from evil.
By the temporal law they were cut off;
by the spiritual law
they perish from that which is good,
and they become miserable forever.
Wherefore, redemption cometh
in and through the Holy Messiah;
for He is full of grace and truth.
Behold, He offereth Himself a sacrifice for sin,
to answer the ends of the law,
unto all those who have a broken heart
and a contrite spirit.
Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known
unto the inhabitants of the earth.
Jacob,
there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God,
save it be through the merits,
and mercy, and grace
of the Holy Messiah,
who layeth down His life according to the flesh,
and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit,
that He may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead,
being the first that should rise.
For it must needs be,
that there is an opposition in all things.
But Father, why?
If not so,
righteousness could not be brought to pass,
neither wickedness,
neither holiness nor misery,
neither good nor bad.
The Lord God gave unto man
that he should act for himself.
According to the things which I have read,
an angel of God had fallen from heaven;
wherefore, he became a devil,
having sought that which was evil before God.
And because he had fallen from heaven,
and had become miserable forever,
he sought also the misery of all mankind.
Wherefore, he said unto Eve:
Partake of the forbidden fruit,
and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God,
knowing good and evil.
After Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit
they were driven out of the garden of Eden,
to till the earth.
And they have brought forth children.
Tell them why this had to be.
If Adam had not transgressed
he would not have fallen,
but he would have remained in the garden of Eden.
And they would have had no children;
wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence,
having no joy, for they knew no misery;
doing no good, for they knew no sin.
Adam fell that men might be;
and men are, that they might have joy.
And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time,
that He may redeem the children of men
from the fall.
Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh.
And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life,
through the great Mediator of all men,
or to choose captivity and death,
according to the captivity and power of the devil.
My sons,
I would that ye should look to the great Mediator,
and be faithful unto His words,
and choose eternal life,
according to the will of His Holy Spirit.
Joseph ...
I now speak unto you, Joseph, my last-born.
Thou art the fruit of my loins;
and I am a descendant of Joseph
who was carried captive into Egypt.
Who could interpret dreams for Pharaoh!
Yes,
and you share his name.
Joseph truly said:
Thus saith the Lord unto me:
A choice seer will I raise up
out of the fruit of thy loins.
And he shall be great like unto Moses.
And unto him will I give power
to bring forth my word
unto the seed of thy loins.
And thus prophesied Joseph, saying:
His name shall be called after me;
and it shall be the name of his father.
And by the power of the Lord
he shall bring my people unto salvation.
Laman, Lemuel,
I desire to speak to your children.
My sons and my daughters,
I cannot go down to my grave
save I should leave a blessing upon you;
for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go
ye will not depart from it.
Wherefore, because of my blessing
the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish;
wherefore, He will be merciful unto you
and unto your seed forever.
Thou shalt not utterly be destroyed;
but in the end
thy seed shall be blessed.