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09 - Book of Mormon - Joseph Smith Jr · Sacred Texts Archive

• Second Nephi, chapters eight to eleven. Chapter eight, hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, Look unto the rock from whence year hewn, and to the whole of the pit, from whence year digged. Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah, she that bear you. For I called him alone and blessed him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me o my nation, For a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light for the people. My righteousness is near, My salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arms shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath, For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that no righteousness the people in whose heart I have written my law fear ye not the reproach of men. Neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worms shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Awake, Awake, put on strength o arm of the Lord. Awake, as in the ancient days, Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon. Art thou not he who hath dried the sea the waters of the great Deep, that hath made the depths of the sea away for the ransomed to pass over. Therefore the Redeemed the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away. I am he yea, I am he that comforteth you behold. Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of man who shall die and of the son of man who shall be made like unto grass, and forgettest the Lord, thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, And hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord, thy god, whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is my name, And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth. And say, unto Zion, behold thou art, my people, awake, Awake, stand up o Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunken, the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out, And none to guide her among all the sons she hath brought forth, neither that taketh her. By the hand of all the sons, she hath brought up these two sons are come unto THEE, who shall be sorry for thee thy desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword. And by whom shall I comfort thee thy son have fainted, Save these two. They lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net. They are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken, and not with wine. Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God pleadeth the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury. Thou shalt no more drink it again, but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict THEE who have said to thy soul, bow down, that we may go over. And Thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over. Awake, Awake, put on thy strength those eye, and put on thy beautiful garments. O Jerusalem, the Holy City, For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumstance and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust arise, sit down, O Jerusalem, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Chapter nine. And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the covenance of the Lord, that he has covenanted with all the House of Israel, that he has spoken unto the Jews by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true Church enfold of God, when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise. Behold, my beloved brethren, I speak unto you these things, that ye may rejoice and lift up your heads forever because of the blessings which the Lord God shall bestow upon your children. For I know that ye have searched much, many of you to know of things to come. Wherefore I know that ye know that our flesh must waste away and die. Nevertheless, in our bodies we shall see God. Yea. I know that ye know that in the body He shall show himself unto those of Jerusalem, from whence we came for it. Is expedient that it should be among them. For it behooveth the Great Creator, that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him. For as death hath passed upon all men. To fulfill the merciful plan of the Great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, And the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall, and the fall came by reason of transgression, And because man became fallen, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. Wherefore it must needs be an infinite atonement. Save it should be an infinite atonement, this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained in an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more, Oh the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace. For behold, if the flesh should rise no more, our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the eternal God and became the devil. To rise no more, and our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the Father of lies in misery, like unto himself. YEA, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men, unto secret combinations of murder, and all manner of secret works of darkness. Oh, how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth away for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster. Yea, that monster death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead, which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead, which spiritual death is hell. Wherefore death and Hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies. And the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other. And it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel. Oh, how great the plan of our God. For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous, and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible and immortal. And they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge, like unto us in the flesh. Save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect. Wherefore we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt and our uncleanness and our nakedness. And the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness. And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death to life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment seat of the Holy One of Israel. And then cometh the judgment, And then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God. And assuredly, as the Lord liveth. For the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word which cannot pass away. That they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still. Wherefore, they who are filthy are the Devil and his angels, And they shall go away into everlasting fire prepared for them. And their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever, and has no end o the greatness and the justice of our God, For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be fulfilled. But behold the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, They who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, They who have endured the crosses of the world and despised the shame of it. They shall inherit the Kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world. And their joy shall be full forever. Oh, the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel. For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster, the devil, and death and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment. Oh, how great the holiness of our God. For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it. And he cometh into the world that he may save all men, if they will hearken unto his voice. For behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day. And he commandeth all men that they must repent and be baptized in His name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God. And if they will not repent and believe in His name and be baptized in His name, and endure to the end, they must be damned. For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has spoken it. Wherefore he has given a law. And where there is no law given, there is no punishment. And where there is no punishment, there is no condemnation. And where there is no condemnation, the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them because of the Atonement, For they are delivered by the power of Him. For the atonement satisfieth the demands of His justice upon all those who have not the law given to them. That they are delivered from that awful monster death, and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment. And they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel. But woe unto him that has the law given yea that has all the commandments of God like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation. For awful is his state, Oh, that cunning plan of the evil One. Oh the vainness and the frailties and the foolishness of men. When they are learned, they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God. For they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves. Wherefore their wisdom is foolishness, and it profiteth them not, and they shall perish. But to be learned is good good. If they hearken unto the counsels of God. But woe unto the rich who are rich as to the things of the world, For because they are rich, they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek. And their hearts are upon their treasures. Wherefore their treasure is their God. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also, And woe unto the death that will not hear, for they shall perish. Woe unto the blind that will not see, for they shall perish. Also. Woe unto the uncircumcised of heart, for a knowledge of their iniquities shall smite them at the last day. Woe unto the lyre, for he shall be thrust down to hell. Woe unto the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die. Woe unto them who commit hortoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell. Yea woe unto those that worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them, and in fine Woe unto all those who die in their sins, for they shall return to God and behold His face, and remain in their sins. O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life eternal. O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words. Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you, For if ye do, ye will revile against the truth. For I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness. But the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken. O. Then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One, Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him. And the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel. And he employeth no servant there. And there is none other way save it be by the gate. For he cannot be deceived. For the Lord God is his name. And whoso knocketh to him will he open. And the wise and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning and their wisdom and their riches. Yea, they are they whom He despiseth and save. They shall cast these things away and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility. He will not owe unto them. But the things of the wise and the prudent shall be hid from them forever. Yea, that happiness which is prepared for the saints. O, my beloved brethren, remember my words. Behold, I take off my garments, and I shake them before you. I pray the God of my salvation, that he view me with his all searching eye. Wherefore ye shall know that at the last day, when all men shall be judged of their works, that the God of Israel did witness that I shook your iniquities from my soul, and that I stand with brightness before him and am rid of your blood. O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins, shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast. Come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation. Prepare your souls for that glorious day when justice shall be administered unto the righteous, even the day of judgment, that ye may not shrink with awful fear that ye may not remember your awful guilt in perfectness and be constrained to exclaim. Holy, Holy are thy judgments, O, Lord God Almighty. But I know my guilt. I transgressed Thy law, and my transgressions are mine. And the devil hath obtained me, that I am a prey to his awful misery. But behold, my brethren, is it expedient that I should awake you to an awful reality? Of these things? Would I harrow up your souls? If your minds were pure? Would I be plain unto you according to the plainness of the truth, if ye were freed from sin? Behold, if ye were holy, I would speak unto you of holiness. But as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher, it must needs be expedient that I teach you the consequences of sin. Behold, my soul aboreth sin, and my heart delighteth in righteousness, and I will praise the Holy name of my God. Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come by and eat yea come by wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken, and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not neither can be corrupted. And let your soul delight in fatness. Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God. Pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name. By night. Let your hearts rejoice, and behold, how great the covenants of the Lord, and how great is condescensions unto the children of men. And because of His greatness and his grace and mercy, he has promised unto us that our seeds shall not utterly be destroyed according to the flesh, but that He would preserve them, and in future generations they shall become a righteous branch unto the House of Israel. And now, my brethren, I would speak unto you no more, but on the morrow I will declare unto you the remainder of my words. Amen. Chapter ten. And now I, Jacob speak unto you again, my beloved brethren, concerning this righteous branch of which I have spoken. For Behold, the promises which we have obtained are promises unto us according to the flesh. Wherefore, as it has been shown unto me that many of our children shall perish in the flesh because of unbelief, Nevertheless, God will be merciful unto many, and our children shall be restored, that they may come to that which will give them the true knowledge of their redeemer. Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ, For in the last night the angels spake unto me that this should be his name, should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world, and they shall crucify him. For thus it behooveth our God. And there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God. For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations, they would repent and know that he be their God. But because of priest crafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he be crucified. Wherefore, because of their iniquities, destructions, famines, pestilencesnes and bloodshed shall come upon them, and they who shall not be destroyed, shall be scattered among all nations. But behold, thus saith the Lord God, when the day cometh, that they shall believe in me that I am Christ. Then have I covenanted with their fathers, that they shall be restored in the flesh upon the earth unto the lands of their inheritance. And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea and from the four parts of the earth. And the nations of the gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance. Yea, the kings of the gentiles shall be nursing fathers unto them, and their queens shall become nursing mothers. Wherefore the promises of the Lord are great unto the gentiles, for he hathken it. And who can dispute, But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of Thine inheritance, And the gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the gentiles. And there shall be no kings upon the land who shall raise up unto the gentiles, and I will fortify this land against all other nations. And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish. Saith God, for he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish. For I, the Lord, the King of Heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever that hear my words. Wherefore, for this cause that my covenants may be fulfilled, which I have made under the children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of a bombas nations. Wherefore, he that fighteth against Zion, both jew and gentile, both bond and free, both male and female, shall perish. For they are they who are the whore of all the earth. For they who are not of me are against me. Saith our God, for I will fulfill my promises which I have made under the children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, thus saith our God, I will afflict thy seed by the hand of the gentiles. Nevertheless, I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them. Wherefore the Gentiles shall be blessed and numbered among the House of Israel. Wherefore I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who shall be numbered among Thy seed forever, for the land of their inheritance. For it is a choice land, saith God, unto Me, above all other lands. Wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon, that they shall worship Me saith God. And Now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him and lay aside our sins and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off. Nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance, but we have been led to a better land. For the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea. But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea. Wherefore, as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, And they are inhabited also by our brethren. For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the House of Israel according to His will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off. Wherefore he remembereth us. Also. Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves, to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God and not to the will of the devil and the flesh. And remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. Wherefore, may God raise you from death by the power of the Resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the Atonement, that ye may be received unto the eternal Kingdom of God, that ye may praise Him through grace Divine Amen. Chapter eleven. And now Jacob spake many more things to my people at that time. Nevertheless, only these things have I cause to be written. For the things which I have written, sufficeth me. And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah. For my soul delighteth in his words, for I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children. For he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him, and my brother Jacob also has seen him as I have seen him. Wherefore I will send their words forth unto my children, to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore by the words of three God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words. Behold, my soul delighteth, improving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ. For for this end hath the law of Moses been given. And all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world unto man, are the typifying of Him. And also my soul delighteth in the covenance of the Lord, which he hath made to our fathers. Yea, my soul delighteth in His grace and in His justice and power and mercy, in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death. And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come, all men must perish. For if there be no Christ, there be no God. And if there be no God, we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fullness of his own own time. And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men. End of Second Nephi, chapters eight to eleven.