Jacob 1

Jacob’s Assignment

Fifty-five years after my father Lehi left Jerusalem, my brother Nephi gave me a job: keep writing on these small plates. He told me to write only what mattered most—the spiritual things. Don’t get caught up in all the historical details, he said. That’s for the other plates. The full history of our people belongs on those other records. My job was to guard these plates and pass them down through my family line, generation after generation.

But if there was powerful preaching, major revelations, or prophecy—write that down. Capture the main points. Do it for Christ’s sake, and for our people. God had shown us what would happen to our people. We knew because of our faith and our deep concern for them. We received many revelations, and the Spirit gave us insight into what was coming. That’s how we learned about Christ and his kingdom. So we worked hard among our people, urging them to come to Christ and experience God’s goodness—to enter into his rest. We didn’t want God to swear in his anger that they couldn’t enter, the way he did with Israel in the wilderness when they tested him and hardened their hearts. We desperately wanted everyone to stop rebelling against God, to stop provoking his anger. We wanted them all to believe in Christ—to look at his death, bear his cross, and accept the world’s rejection. So I’m doing what Nephi asked me to do.

The Death of Nephi

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. The people loved Nephi deeply. He had protected them, fought for them with Laban’s sword, and spent his whole life working for their good. They wanted to honor his memory, so whoever became king after him was called Second Nephi by the people. Then came Third Nephi, and so on. It didn’t matter what their actual names were—the people called them by Nephi’s name. Then Nephi died.

Now, the people who weren’t Lamanites were divided into groups: Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, and even Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. But from here on, I’m keeping it simple. ' And anyone loyal to Nephi’s people, I’ll just call 'Nephites'—the people of Nephi, named after their kings.

Pride and Sin Creep In

During the second king’s reign, Nephi’s people started to harden their hearts. They slipped into sinful behavior—wanting multiple wives and concubines, just like David and his son Solomon back in the old days. They also started chasing after gold and silver, and pride began to creep in. So I spoke to them in the temple. But first, I made sure God had sent me to say it.

My brother Joseph and I had been set apart by Nephi as priests and teachers for the people. We took that calling seriously. We knew that if we didn’t teach God’s word with everything we had, their sins would be on us. So we worked as hard as we could to warn them. If we didn’t, their blood would stain our hands, and we wouldn’t stand clean before God at the last day.