0 SABoM 1 Nephi 2
home

Whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. 14:10

Trivia: In Lehi's dream, who in his family ate from the happy fruit tree?

New Quote
New Trivia

The First Book of Nephi

CHAPTER 2

God tells Lehi in a dream to go into the wilderness with his family (Sariah, his wife, and four sons, Laman, Lemeul, Sam, and Nephi)--Lehi and his family leave Jerusalem--They walk 300 km to the Red Sea in 3 days--Lehi names a river that flows into the Red Sea after his evil son, Laman, and a valley after his other evil son, Lemuel--Laman and Lemuel were like unto Jews--Nephi cries to the Lord--God tells Nephi he will give him the best land on earth (America)--God says he'll curse Laman and Lemeul with a sore curse. (600 BCE)

The incredible journey begins
AbsurdityScienceIntolerancePlagiarism 2:1-24

1 For behold, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto my father, yea, even in a dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life.

2And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness.

3And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him.

God spoke to my father Lehi in a dream, saying,

Take your family into the wilderness because everyone's trying to kill you.

4And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.

5 And he came down by the borders near the shore of the Red Sea; and he traveled in the wilderness in the borders which are nearer the Red Sea; and he did travel in the wilderness with his family, which consisted of my mother, Sariah, and my elder brothers, who were Laman, Lemuel, and Sam.

So he left his land, gold, silver, and precious things and went into the wilderness with his family, which included his wife Sariah, my three older brothers Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and me. [1]

6And it came to pass that when he had traveled three days in the wilderness, he pitched his tent in a valley by the side of a river of water.

7And it came to pass that he built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord, and gave thanks unto the Lord our God.

After traveling for three days, we arrived at a river which flowed into the Red Sea. [2]

8 And it came to pass that he called the name of the river, Laman, and it emptied into the Red Sea; and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof.

9 And when my father saw that the waters of the river emptied into the fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!

10And he also spake unto Lemuel: O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!

My father named the river Laman [3] and the valley Lemuel, hoping it would make them stronger and more reliable.

11 Now this he spake because of the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did murmur in many things against their father, because he was a visionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.

12 And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.

But Laman and Lemuel murmured against their father, complaining about our trip into the wilderness.

13Neither did they believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed according to the words of the prophets. And they were like unto the Jews who were at Jerusalem, who sought to take away the life of my father.

14And it came to pass that my father did speak unto them in the valley of Lemuel, with power, being filled with the Spirit, until their frames did shake before him. And he did confound them, that they durst not utter against him; wherefore, they did as he commanded them.

15 And my father dwelt in a tent.

They didn't believe Jerusalem would be destroyed. [4]

They were like the Jews [5] in Jerusalem who tried to kill my father.

16And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.

Although I was young, I wanted to know the mysteries of God. So I cried out to the Lord. He visited me and he softened my heart so I would believe everything my father said.

17 And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words.

I told Sam about what the Holy Spirit told me.

And Sam believed me.

18 But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them.

But Laman and Lemuel's hearts were too hard to believe me.

19And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.

20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.

21 And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

22 And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren.

The Lord came to me again and said,

I'll lead you to a new land that I've prepared just for you, a land that is better than everywhere else on earth. [6]

23 For behold, in that day that they shall rebel against me, I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also.

24 And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.

But I'll curse your nonbelieving brothers and their descendants.

Login here to add comment

Notes

  1. He departed into the wilderness. (v.4)

    From 1920 to 2012, the LDS church attached an asterisk to this verse with a note saying "600 BCE" for the time when Lehi left Jerusalem. This was based on the prophecy in 1 Nephi 10:4 that Jesus would be born 600 years after Lehi left Jerusalem (the assumption being that Jesus was born in the year zero -- which he wasn't, but oh well).

    In 2013, the LDS church removed the 600 BCE note for 1 Nephi 2:4 and stopped putting dates on the bottom of each page of the Book of Mormon. Dates were placed in the chapter headings, and changed from exact dates (like "600 BC") to approximate ones ("about 600 BC").

    Here's the official LDS excuse reason for the change.

  2. When he had traveled three days (v.6)

    Although it's not entirely clear whether the three days refers to Lehi's to complete journey or to just finding a campsite after reaching the Red Sea. But if it was the former, then they must have been fast walkers, since the distance from Jerusalem to the Red Sea is about 300 kilometers.

  3. He called the name of the river, Laman, and it emptied into the Red Sea. (v.8)

    There are no permanent rivers that flow into the Red Sea and there is no evidence that such rivers existed in 600 BCE.

    Where is the River Laman?

    Book of Mormon guide to the Arabian Desert

  4. Neither did they believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed according to the words of the prophets. (v.13a)

    Since 1 Nephi 1:4 says that Nephi's family left Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedikiah, then that would have been after the Babylonians conquest of Jerusalem, since Zedekiah was made king by Nebuchadnezzar.

    So why wouldn't Nephi's brother believe Jerusalem could be destroyed?

  5. They were like unto the Jews. (v.13b)

    Being like a Jew is about as bad as it gets in the Book of Mormon.

  6. A land which I have prepared for you (v.20)

    God made the New World just for Nephi and his family. For though it had been occupied by the Native Americans for 15,000 years or so, God made it for Nephi, not for them

Absurdity

And it came to pass: 2:1, 2, 3, 4, , 6, 7, 8, 14, 16, 17, 19

Exceedingly: 2:2, 16

Behold: 2:1(2), 11, 16, 18, 32

Yea: 2:1, 20(2)

Plagiarism

2:16 the mysteries of God -- 1 Corinthians 4:1

2:18 Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts -- Mark 3:5

2:24 To stir you up by putting you in remembrance -- 2 Peter 1:13

Dwindling in Unbelief
1 Nephi 2: The incredible jouney begins
The Annotated Book of Mormon
A-BOM
2think.org
Wikipedia
1 Nephi
Saudi Arabia: Geography
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Login here to add comment

CHAPTERS

1 Nephi

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Copyright © 1999-2025
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

Send comments to Steve Wells
at swwells(at)gmail.com