DAY 16 – I Nephi 4:41-5:16

41 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord;

42 Yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God, and remember to keep his commandments always, in all things.

43 And they said unto me, What meaneth the river of water which our father saw?

44 And I said unto them, that the water which my father saw, was filthiness;

45 And so much was his mind swallowed up in other things, that he beheld not the filthiness of the water;

46 And I said unto them, that it was an awful gulf, which separateth the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.

47 And I said unto them, that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked.

48 And I said unto them that our father also saw, that the justice of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous;

49 And the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire, which ascendeth up unto God for ever and ever, and hath no end.

50 And they said unto me, Doth this thing mean the torment of the body in the days of probation, or doth it mean the final state of the soul after the death of the temporal body, or doth it speak of the things which are temporal?

51 And it came to pass that I said unto them, that it was a representation of things both temporal and spiritual;

52 For the day should come that they must be judged of their works, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation;

53 Wherefore, if they should die in their wickedness, they must be cast off also, as to the things which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness;

54 Wherefore, they must be brought to stand before God to be judged of their works:

55 And if their works have been filthiness, they must needs be filthy:

56 And if they be filthy, it must needs be that they can not dwell in the kingdom of God:

57 If so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also.

58 But behold, I say unto you, the kingdom of God is not filthy, and there can not any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God;

59 Wherefore, there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy.

60 And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the foundation of it;

61 Wherefore, the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that justice of which I have spoken;

62 Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous and also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits:

63 Yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

64 And thus I spake unto my brethren. Amen.

CHAPTER 5

1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold, they said unto me, Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.

2 And it came to pass that I said unto them, that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.

3 And now, my brethren, if ye were righteous, and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say, Thou speakest hard things against us.

4 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did exhort my brethren, with all diligence, to keep the commandments of the Lord.

5 And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness.

6 Now, all these things were said and done, as my father dwelt in a tent in the valley which he called Lemuel.

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also, my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also, Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife.

8 And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him.

9 And also, I, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.

10 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father, by night, and commanded him, that on the morrow, he should take his journey into the wilderness.

11 And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment, he beheld upon the ground a round ball, of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass.

12 And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.

13 And it came to pass that we did gather together whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness, and all the remainder of our provisions which the Lord had given unto us;

14 And we did take seed of every kind, that we might carry into the wilderness.

15 And it came to pass that we did take our tents, and depart into the wilderness, across the river Laman.

16 And it came to pass that we traveled for the space of four days, nearly a south, south-east direction, and we did pitch our tents again; and we did call the name of the place Shazer.