The words of his preaching unto his brethren. He confoundeth a man who seeketh to overthrow the doctrine of Christ. A few words concerning the history of the people of Nephi.

Jacob and Joseph seek to persuade men to believe in Christ and keep his commandments—Nephi dies—Wickedness prevails among the Nephites. [Between 544 and 421 B.C.]

 FOR behold, it came to pass that *fifty and five years had passed away from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem; wherefore, Nephi gave me, Jacob, a ^acommandment^• concerning the ^bsmall^• plates, upon which these things are engraven.

 And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should ^awrite upon ^bthese^• plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious; that I should not touch, save it were lightly, concerning the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi.

 For he said that the history of his people should be engraven upon his ^aother^• plates, and that I should ^bpreserve these plates and hand them down unto my seed, from generation to generation.

 And if there were preaching which was ^asacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the ^bheads^• of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people.

 For because of faith and great anxiety, it truly had been made manifest unto us concerning our people, what things should ^ahappen^• unto them.

 And we also had many revelations, and the spirit of much prophecy; wherefore, we knew of ^aChrist^• and his kingdom, which should come.

 Wherefore we labored diligently among our people, that we might persuade them to ^acome^• unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter into his ^brest, lest by any means he should swear in his wrath they should not ^center^• in, as in the ^dprovocation^• in the days of temptation while the children of Israel were in the ^ewilderness^•.

 Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men ^anot to rebel against God, to ^bprovoke^• him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his ^ccross^• and bear the shame of the world; wherefore, I, Jacob, take it upon me to fulfil the commandment of my brother Nephi.

 Now Nephi began to be old, and he saw that he must soon ^adie^•; wherefore, he ^banointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people now, according to the reigns of the ^ckings^•.

 The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the ^asword^• of Laban in their defence, and having labored in all his days for their welfare—

 Wherefore, the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name. And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth, according to the reigns of the kings; and thus they were called by the people, let them be of whatever name they would.

 And it came to pass that Nephi died.

 Now the people which were not ^aLamanites^• were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, ^bZoramites^•, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.

 But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish ^athem^• by these names, but I shall ^bcall^• them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call ^cNephites^•, or the ^dpeople^• of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings.

 And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring many ^awives^• and ^bconcubines^•, and also Solomon, his son.

 Yea, and they also began to search much ^agold^• and silver, and began to be lifted up somewhat in pride.

 Wherefore I, Jacob, gave unto them these words as I taught them in the ^atemple^•, having first obtained mine ^berrand from the Lord.

 For I, Jacob, and my brother Joseph had been ^aconsecrated^• priests and ^bteachers of this people, by the hand of Nephi.

 And we did ^amagnify^• our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the ^bresponsibility^•, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not ^cteach^• them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their ^dblood^• might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.

* Verse 1  [544 B.C.].