The Book of Mormon Part 31

Jacob 2:35 35 Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to G.o.d against you. And because of the strictness of the word of G.o.d, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.

Jacob 3 Chapter 3

Jacob 3:1 1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto G.o.d with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.

Jacob 3:2 2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of G.o.d, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.

Jacob 3:3 3 But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in heart, that are filthy this day before G.o.d; for except ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction.

Jacob 3:4 4 And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord G.o.d will lead away the righteous out from among you.

Jacob 3:5 5 Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father--that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be wh.o.r.edoms committed among them.

Jacob 3:6 6 And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord G.o.d will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people.

Jacob 3:7 7 Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?

Jacob 3:8 8 O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of G.o.d.

Jacob 3:9 9 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of G.o.d, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers.

Jacob 3:10 10 Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day.

Jacob 3:11 11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of h.e.l.l that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death.

Jacob 3:12 12 And now I, Jacob, spake many more things unto the people of Nephi, warning them against fornication and lasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them.

Jacob 3:13 13 And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates; but many of their proceedings are written upon the larger plates, and their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings.

Jacob 3:14 14 These plates are called the plates of Jacob, and they were made by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words.

Jacob 4 Chapter 4

Jacob 4:1 1 Now behold, it came to pa.s.s that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain;

Jacob 4:2 2 But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers--

Jacob 4:3 3 Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.

Jacob 4:4 4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

Jacob 4:5 5 Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of G.o.d in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of G.o.d and his Only Begotten Son.

Jacob 4:6 6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.

Jacob 4:7 7 Nevertheless, the Lord G.o.d showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

Jacob 4:8 8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of G.o.d.

Jacob 4:9 9 For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word.

Wherefore, if G.o.d being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?

Jacob 4:10 10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.

Jacob 4:11 11 Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto G.o.d, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

Jacob 4:12 12 And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?

Jacob 4:13 13 Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for G.o.d also spake them unto prophets of old.

Jacob 4:14 14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for G.o.d hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it G.o.d hath done it, that they may stumble.

Jacob 4:15 15 And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation.

Jacob 4:16 16 But behold, according to the scriptures, this stone shall become the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, upon which the Jews can build.

Jacob 4:17 17 And now, my beloved, how is it possible that these, after having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it may become the head of their corner?

Jacob 4:18 18 Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this mystery unto you; if I do not, by any means, get shaken from my firmness in the Spirit, and stumble because of my over anxiety for you.

Jacob 5 Chapter 5

Jacob 5:1 1 Behold, my brethren, do ye not remember to have read the words of the prophet Zenos, which he spake unto the house of Israel, saying:

Jacob 5:2 2 Hearken, O ye house of Israel, and hear the words of me, a prophet of the Lord.

Jacob 5:3 3 For behold, thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O house of Israel, like unto a tame olive-tree, which a man took and nourished in his vineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and began to decay.

Jacob 5:4 4 And it came to pa.s.s that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive-tree began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not.

Jacob 5:5 5 And it came to pa.s.s that he pruned it, and digged about it, and nourished it according to his word.

Jacob 5:6 6 And it came to pa.s.s that after many days it began to put forth somewhat a little, young and tender branches; but behold, the main top thereof began to perish.

Jacob 5:7 7 And it came to pa.s.s that the master of the vineyard saw it, and he said unto his servant: It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, go and pluck the branches from a wild olive-tree, and bring them hither unto me; and we will pluck off those main branches which are beginning to wither away, and we will cast them into the fire that they may be burned.

Jacob 5:8 8 And behold, saith the Lord of the vineyard, I take away many of these young and tender branches, and I will graft them whithersoever I will; and it mattereth not that if it so be that the root of this tree will perish, I may preserve the fruit thereof unto myself; wherefore, I will take these young and tender branches, and I will graft them whithersoever I will.

Jacob 5:9 9 Take thou the branches of the wild olive-tree, and graft them in, in the stead thereof; and these which I have plucked off I will cast into the fire and burn them, that they may not c.u.mber the ground of my vineyard.

Jacob 5:10 10 And it came to pa.s.s that the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did according to the word of the Lord of the vineyard, and grafted in the branches of the wild olive-tree.

Jacob 5:11 11 And the Lord of the vineyard caused that it should be digged about, and pruned, and nourished, saying unto his servant: It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, that perhaps I might preserve the roots thereof that they perish not, that I might preserve them unto myself, I have done this thing.

Jacob 5:12 12 Wherefore, go thy way; watch the tree, and nourish it, according to my words.

Jacob 5:13 13 And these will I place in the nethermost part of my vineyard, whithersoever I will, it mattereth not unto thee; and I do it that I may preserve unto myself the natural branches of the tree; and also, that I may lay up fruit thereof against the season, unto myself; for it grieveth me that I should lose this tree and the fruit thereof.