Samuel predicts light during the night and a new star at Christ’s birth—Christ redeems men from temporal and spiritual death—The signs of his death include three days of darkness, the rending of the rocks, and great upheavals of nature. [About 6 B.C.]

 AND now it came to pass that ^aSamuel^•, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written.

 And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for ^afive^• years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name.

 And behold, this will I give unto you for a ^asign^• at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

 Therefore, there shall be one ^aday^• and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is ^bborn.

 And behold, there shall a new ^astar^• arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

 And behold this is not all, there shall be many ^asigns^• and wonders in heaven.

 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall ^afall^• to the earth.

 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall ^abelieve^• on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.

 And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord.

 And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have ^acast^• me out from among you.

 And ye shall ^ahear^• my words, for, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance;

 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the ^aFather^• of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.

 And if ye ^abelieve^• on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his ^bmerits^•.

 And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his ^adeath.

 For behold, he surely must die that ^asalvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he ^bdieth^•, to bring to pass the ^cresurrection^• of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the ^dpresence of the Lord.

 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the ^aresurrection^•, and ^bredeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the ^cfall of Adam being ^dcut^• off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as ^edead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.

 But behold, the resurrection of Christ ^aredeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.

 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not ^ahewn^• down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a ^bspiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.

 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.

 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another ^asign^•, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his ^blight^• unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of ^cthree^• days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.

 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ^aghost^• there shall be ^bthunderings^• and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the ^crocks^• which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be ^dbroken^• up;

 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be ^afound^• in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.

 And behold, there shall be great ^atempests^•, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called ^bvalleys^• which shall become mountains, whose height is great.

 And ^amany^• highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate.

 And many ^agraves^• shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.

 And behold, thus hath the ^aangel^• spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours.

 And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that ^adarkness^• should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days.

 And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that ^athese^• signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men—

 And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a ^arighteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation.

 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto ^ahimself^•; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are ^bfree^•; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a ^cknowledge and he hath made you free.

 He hath given unto you that ye might ^aknow^• good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might ^bchoose^• life or death; and ye can do good and be ^crestored^• unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.