Mormon 1:17

But I did remain among them, but I were forbidden that I should preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts, the land was cursed for their sake.

I stayed among them. But I was not allowed to preach to them because their hearts were hard. Because their hearts were hard, the land was cursed.

I stayed among them, but I couldn’t preach to them. Their hearts were too hard. And because their hearts were hard, the land itself was cursed because of them.