The Crowd Disperses
The crowd split apart. Some went one way, some another, leaving Nephi standing there alone.
Nephi headed home, thinking over everything the Lord had shown him.
The Voice of God
As he walked, his heart grew heavy. The Nephites' wickedness weighed on him—their secret plots, their murders, their robberies, all their evil. While he was turning these things over in his mind, a voice spoke to him:
'Nephi, you’re blessed because of what you’ve done. I’ve watched you preach the word I gave you without ever giving up. You haven’t been afraid of them. You haven’t tried to save your own life. You’ve sought my will and kept my commands.' 'Because you’ve done this so faithfully, I’m going to bless you forever. I’ll make you mighty in word and deed, in faith and action. Everything will happen according to your word, because you won’t ask for anything against my will.' 'You are Nephi, and I am God. I tell you this in the presence of my angels: you’ll have power over these people. You can strike the earth with famine, disease, and destruction—whatever their wickedness deserves.' 'I’m giving you power—whatever you seal on earth will be sealed in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This is the authority you’ll have among these people.' 'If you say to the temple, 'Be torn in two,' it will happen.' 'If you say to a mountain, 'Fall down and become level ground,' it will happen.' 'And if you say God will strike these people down, it will happen.'
'Now go and tell these people this is what the Lord God Almighty says: Unless you turn from your sins, you’ll be destroyed.'
Nephi Returns with a Warning
When the Lord finished speaking, Nephi didn’t go home. Instead, he turned back to the crowds scattered across the city and started preaching. He told them what the Lord had said—that they’d be destroyed if they didn’t change.
Even after the miracle Nephi had done—revealing the chief judge’s murder—they hardened their hearts and refused to listen to the Lord’s words. So Nephi declared the Lord’s message again: 'Unless you turn from your sins, the Lord says you’ll be destroyed.' After Nephi spoke, they hardened their hearts even more. They wouldn’t listen. Instead, they cursed him and tried to grab him and throw him in prison.
But God’s power was with him. They couldn’t touch him. The Spirit lifted him up and carried him away from the middle of the crowd. Led by the Spirit, he went from one group to another, preaching God’s word. He made sure everyone heard the message.
They refused to listen. Fighting broke out. They turned on each other and started killing one another with swords.
That’s how the seventy-first year of the judges ended among the Nephites.
Influences
- 10:1 — John 8:9 (KJV)And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
- 10:3 — Matthew 17:5 (KJV)While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
- 10:7 — Luke 10:19 (KJV)Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
- 10:7 — Matthew 16:19 (KJV)And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
- 10:7 — John 14:13 (KJV)And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- 10:8 — Matthew 21:21 (KJV)Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
- 10:8 — Matthew 27:51 (KJV)And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
- 10:8 — Matthew 27:51 (KJV)And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
- 10:9 — Matthew 17:20 (KJV)And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
- 10:12 — Matthew 11:7 (KJV)And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
- 10:15 — Luke 4:29 (KJV)And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.