Jacob 1:9
1830 Edition
Now Nephi began to be old, and he saw that he must soon die; wherefore, he anointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people now, according to the reigns of the kings.
Simple English
Nephi was getting old. He knew he would die soon. So he chose a man to be king and ruler over his people.
Paraphrase
Nephi was getting old and knew his time was short. So he anointed someone to be king and rule over the people. That’s how the line of kings began.
Notes
It is curious that Nephi refers to his successor to the throne as, "a man." As the Tanners note, "This is certainly a strange way to speak of the new king who presumably would be a son or grandson of someone in the original group. It is entirely different from the way the ancient Israelites referred to their kings. They not only had a great deal to say about them, but they proudly gave their names and the names of their fathers..." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 192.