The Book of Mormon
~600 BC

1 Nephi 1

In Jerusalem during King Zedekiah's reign, prophets warn of destruction unless people repent. Lehi prays and receives a vision of fire, heavenly beings, and a book declaring Jerusalem's fate. He preaches repentance and testifies of the coming Messiah. The Jews reject his message and seek to kill him.

Nephi Begins His Story

I, Nephi, was blessed with good parents who taught me everything they knew. My life has been full of hardships, but God has always looked after me. He's shown me his goodness and let me in on his mysteries. So I'm writing down my story. I'm writing in my father's language—a mix of Jewish learning and Egyptian writing. Everything I write here is true. I'm writing it myself, telling it as I know it.

Prophets Warn Jerusalem

It started when Zedekiah became king of Judah. My father, Lehi, had lived in Jerusalem all his life. ' So my father went out and prayed to the Lord with all his heart for his people. While he prayed, a pillar of fire appeared and settled on a rock in front of him. What he saw and heard shook him to his core—he couldn't stop trembling. He went back home to Jerusalem and collapsed on his bed, overwhelmed by the Spirit and everything he'd witnessed.

Lehi’s Vision of Heaven

The Spirit carried him away in a vision. The heavens opened, and he saw God sitting on his throne, surrounded by countless angels singing praises. Then he saw someone coming down from heaven, shining brighter than the sun at noon. Twelve others followed him, glowing brighter than stars.

They came down to earth. The first one stood before my father and handed him a book, telling him to read it. As he read, the Spirit of the Lord filled him. The book's words burned in his mind: 'Jerusalem is doomed! ' My father read how the city would be destroyed, many killed by the sword, and survivors dragged away to Babylon. After reading these amazing and terrible things, my father burst out in praise: 'Your works are incredible, Lord God Almighty! You rule from heaven, and your power, goodness, and mercy cover everyone on earth. ' That's how my father praised God—his soul was celebrating, his heart overflowing with what the Lord had shown him.

I won't write down everything my father recorded. He wrote about many visions and dreams, and many prophecies he shared with his children. Instead, I'll tell my own story. I'm making a shorter version of my father's record on metal plates I made myself. After I finish summarizing his record, I'll write about my own life.

The People Reject Lehi’s Warning

You need to know this: After the Lord showed my father these amazing things about Jerusalem's destruction, he went out among the people and started prophesying, telling them everything he'd seen and heard. The Jews mocked him for what he said. He told them straight about their evil and corruption. He testified that what he saw and heard—and what he read in that book—clearly showed a Messiah would come to save the world. When the Jews heard this, they were furious. Just like they'd thrown out, stoned, and killed the old prophets, they wanted to kill him too. But I'll show you how the Lord's tender mercy strengthens those he's chosen—because they trust him. He gives them power to be delivered.

Influences

  • 1:1 — 1 Corinthians 4:1 (KJV)
    Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
  • 1:14 — Revelation 15:3 (KJV)
    And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
  • 1:17 — 2 Maccabees 2:31 (KJV)
    But to use brevity, and avoid much labouring of the work, is to be granted to him that will make an abridgment.
  • 1:20 — Acts 7:54 (KJV)
    When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

Notes

  • 1:1

    "The book of Genesis seems to have had a real influence upon the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon. Two of Nephi's brothers, Joseph and Jacob, have names taken from the book of Genesis. His mother's name is Sariah, which reminds us of Abraham's wife Sarah-also called Sarai (Genesis 17:15). Ishmael-a friend of the family-is also a name taken from Genesis (Genesis 17:18). The name Laban is likewise found in Genesis (Genesis 24:29). The story of Nephi in some ways parallels that of Joseph found in Genesis (the younger son is favored by the father, is chosen of God, the older brothers try to kill him, etc)." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 20.

  • 1:1

    The name Nephi, the younger son of Lehi, appears to have been drawn from the King James Version of the Apocrypha. In 2 Maccabees 1:36 (KJV) we read: “And Neemias called this thing Naphthar, which is as much to say, a cleansing; but many men call it Nephi.”

    There are over 300 proper names in the Book of Mormon. Roughly 141 of those names can be found in the Bible as well. For example, Abrahahm, Ammon, Bethabara, Esrom, Ether, Gomorrah, Ishmael, Jared, Jonas, Judea, Lemuel, Madmenah, Nazareth, Pathros, Pekah, Rama, Shinar, Sinim, and Zebulun are names found both in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

    "Many Book of Mormon names not found in the Bible seem to be made up by re-arranging various syllables or changing the ending of Bible names. For example, the Bible speaks of Abinadab, the Book of Mormon mentions Abinadi and Abinadom. The BOM also uses the biblical Aminadab and a modified Aminodi. The Bible mentions Kish, the Book of Mormon has Akish and Kishcumen. The Bible has Gimzo, and the Book of Mormon speaks of Gimgimno. Besides using the biblical name Helam, Smith expands it to Helaman.... Some seem to be simply different spellings. Melech in the Bible becomes Melek in the Book of Mormon. Biblical Chemosh becomes Chemish. Book of Mormon Ziff seems to be a different spelling of biblical Ziph. Nehor seems to be from the biblical Nahor. More names are created by adding such endings as 'hah.' The Book of Mormon has the names Nephi and Nephihah; Moroni and Moronihah; Ammon and Ammonihah; Mathoni and Mathonihah..." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 27

  • 1:1

    "Although criticism of the Apocrypha was growing among the Protestants in Joseph Smith's day, it was still printed in a number of King James Bibles at that time. In fact, when Smith purchased a Bible in the late 1820's, he picked one which contain the Apocrypha. LDS scholar Reed Durham mentioned this purchase in his BYU dissertation (A History of Joseph Smith's Revision of the Bible, Ph.D. dissertation, BYU, 1965, p. 25). In view of the parallels it seems obvious that Joseph Smith read at least portions of the Apocrypha before writing the book of 1 Nephi. He was apparently familiar with the Apocryphal book of Judith and both 1 and 2 Maccabees. From these three books he absorbed portions and combined them into one story in the Book of Mormon. There are thirty-two interesting parallels between material found in three books of the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon story of Nephi....Interestingly, twenty-eight of the thirty-two parallels to the Apocrypha are found in the first five chapters of the Book of Mormon. This constitutes an extraordinary cluster of similarities..." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 29.

    Parallel: Both the book of Nephi (BOM) and the book of 2 Maccabees (APO) use the word "Nephi" in their opening chapter (1 Nephi 1:1; 2 Maccabees 1:36). Furthermore, the very first verse found in 2 Maccabees mentions the Jews in Egypt. The second verse in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 1:2) contains Nephi's statement that the book would be written in the Egyptian language.

    For other parallels, please see: 1 Nephi 1:17, 1 Nephi 4:20-24, 1 Nephi 2:4-6, 1 Nephi 3:3, 1 Nephi 3:16, 1 Nephi 3:25, 1 Nephi 3:31, 1 Nephi 4:1-2, 1 Nephi 4:4-5, 1 Nephi 4:7-9, 1 Nephi 4:18, 1 Nephi 4:19-24 & 38, 1 Nephi 4:20, 1 Nephi 4:27, 1 Nephi 5:9, 1 Nephi 13:40, 2 Nephi 5:8, Mosiah 3:1, Mosiah 10:13, 4 Nephi 1:31.

  • 1:1

    The Book of Mormon opens with this statement: "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents." Smith's own story states: "I was born in the town of Sharon...of goodly parents."

    Smith is quoted as saying "born of goodly parents" in An American Prophet's Record, pp. 3-8.

    For other examples of Smith's common phrases, see 2 Nephi 26:15 and 2 Nephi 28:16.

  • 1:17

    "There are thirty-two interesting parallels between material found in three books of the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon story of Nephi....Interestingly, twenty-eight of the thirty-two parallels to the Apocrypha are found in the first five chapters of the Book of Mormon. This constitutes an extraordinary cluster of similarities..." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 29.

    Parallel: In the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, Nephi says he will make an abridgment of his record. This echoes a portion of 2 Maccabees 2:19-23, who likewise talks about making an abridgment.

    For other parallels, please see: 1 Nephi 1:1, 1 Nephi 1:2, 1 Nephi 4:20-24, 1 Nephi 2:4-6, 1 Nephi 3:3, 1 Nephi 3:16, 1 Nephi 3:25, 1 Nephi 3:31, 1 Nephi 4:1-2, 1 Nephi 4:4-5, 1 Nephi 4:7-9, 1 Nephi 4:18, 1 Nephi 4:19-24 & 38, 1 Nephi 4:20, 1 Nephi 4:27, 1 Nephi 5:9, 1 Nephi 13:40, 2 Nephi 5:8, Mosiah 10:13, 4 Nephi 1:31.

    For a full note on the use of the Apocrypha, please see the annotation at 1 Nephi 1:1.

1 Nephi 2