THE BOOK OF MORMON STUDY GUIDE

Enos is forgiven and prays for others...
(compare The Book of Enos)

Click HERE to view "9 Pages Covering 400 years"

I, Enos, know that my father, Jacob, was a just man. He taught me in his language, and he taught me about the Lord's kindness, and of His warnings. Blessed be the name of my God for giving me such a father!

Now I will tell you about the struggle I had before receiving a remission of my sins.

One morning, I went to hunt in the forest. While there, I pondered the words of eternal life and of the joy of the saints that I had often heard my father speak.

My soul longed for this joy, so I knelt down before my Maker and cried to Him in mighty prayer, asking Him to bless my soul. I prayed all day long, and when night came, I still prayed loudly so that my voice would reach the heavens.

Then a voice came into my mind, saying,

"Enos, your sins are forgiven and you will be blessed."

I knew that God could not lie, so my guilt was instantly swept away. I asked the Lord, "How is this done?"

In my mind the Lord answered,

"This is done because of your faith in Christ, whom you have never seen nor heard before. Many years will pass before He will show Himself in the flesh.

Now, go forth in peace. Because of your faith, your soul has been healed."

When I heard this, I became concerned for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites. So I poured out my whole soul to God for them.

While I was struggling in the spirit, the Lord's voice came into my mind again, saying,

"I will visit your brethren (the Nephites) according to how well they keep my commandments. I have given them this holy land and will only curse it because of iniquity.

Therefore, I will visit your brethren as I said I would, but I will bring down their sins upon their own heads, and they will be sorry."

After hearing this, my faith in the Lord became so strong that it could not be shaken. I prayed very hard to Him, struggling for my brethren, the Lamanites.

After I had prayed diligently, the Lord said to me,

"I will grant your desires because of your faith."

And this is what I, Enos, had asked the Lord to do:

"If my people, the Nephites, ever fall into sin and are destroyed, and the Lamanites survive, will Thou, oh Lord God, by the power of Thy holy arm, save a record of my people, the Nephites, so that it will come to the Lamanites in some future day--so that they, too will be brought to salvation?"

I asked the Lord to do this, knowing that He alone could do it, for our preaching to the Lamanites and attempts to restore them to the true faith had been useless. In their anger, the Lamanites had sworn to destroy us along with our fathers' traditions and records.

Knowing that the Lord God could preserve our records, I cried to Him without stopping, for He had said to me,

"Whatever you ask, in the name of Christ, believing that you will receive, will be granted."

I had faith and prayed to God to preserve the records, and He covenanted with me that He would bring our records (The complete Book of Mormon) to the Lamanites in His own due time.

I knew that it would be done according to the covenant that He had made, so my soul was at peace.

The Lord said to me,

"Your fathers (Jacob & Lehi) also required me to save their records and bring them forth in the future.

This will be done for them as well, according to their faith. Their faith was strong like yours, Enos."

After having this experience, I went out and prophesied of the future among the Nephites, testifying of things I had seen and heard.

Upon these plates I now testify that we, the people of Nephi, tried very hard to restore the Lamanites to the true faith in God, but our labors were in vain. The Lamanites' hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature.

They had become a wild, ferocious and bloodthirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness. They ate beasts of prey, lived in tents, and wandered around the wilderness wearing loincloths.

They shaved their heads and became skilled with the bow and arrow, scimitar and axe. Many of them ate only raw meat, and they were always trying to kill us, the Nephites.

We tilled the land and raised all types of grain and fruit. We also raised all types of cattle, goats and horses.

There were many prophets among us, but the Nephite people had become too proud to listen to them. Nothing but constant, harsh and plain preaching about war, death, the length of eternity, and the judgments and power of God would keep them from quickly going down to destruction.

I, Enos, have seen many wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites during my lifetime.

It is now 421 BC, and I am growing old.

It has been 179 years since my grandfather, Lehi, left Jerusalem. All my life, God's power has compelled me to preach and prophesy to this people. I have declared the word according to the truth in Christ, and I have rejoiced in His word more than anything in the world.

Now I will soon go to my resting place with my Redeemer. And I will rejoice in the day when my mortal body becomes immortal and stands before Him.

Then I will see His face with pleasure, and He will say to me, "Come to me; you are blessed. There is a place prepared for you in my Father's mansions."

Jarom preaches and deals with war...
(compare The Book of Jarom)

Now, I, Jarom, will obey my father, Enos, who gave me these plates before he died. I will write a few words so that this record and genealogy, begun by my great-grandfather, Lehi, will continue.

There is not much room left to engrave upon these plates, and since they are kept for the spiritual benefit of our brethren, the Lamanites, I will not engrave much, for I don't need to repeat the plan of salvation that my fathers have already revealed in their writings.

It's more important for much to be done among the Nephites because they are so hard hearted and blinded with pride. In spite of this, God is very merciful to them and has not yet swept them off the land.

Many Nephites have many revelations, for not all of us resist the Holy Spirit. Those who do not resist have communion with Him according to their faith.

In the year 400 BC, twenty-one years after my father, Enos, gave me these plates, we, the Nephites, had become strong in the land. We were protected because we kept the law of Moses and the Sabbath day holy. We did not profane or blaspheme, and the laws of the land were very strict.

We and the Lamanites have populated much of the land, but the Lamanites are much more populous than we. They are a wild people who love murder, and they drink the blood of animals.

They have come to battle against us for years, but our kings and leaders have been mighty men in the faith of the Lord, who have taught the people His ways. This is why we have been able to repel the Lamanites and force them out of our lands. We have also fortified our cities and lands of inheritance against their attacks.

We have multiplied greatly and have become rich with great amounts of gold, silver and precious things. We've had many fine craftsmen, who have worked with wood, and who have built fine buildings and machinery.

Others are skilled in metalwork, using copper, brass and steel to make all types of farming tools and weapons. Our fine tools and weapons have kept the Lamanites from prevailing against us. The Lord's word has been verified that He spoke to our forefathers:

"As you keep my commandments, you will prosper in the land."

Our prophets have threatened the Nephites according to God's word, telling them that if they did not keep the commandments and fell into transgression, they would be destroyed off the face of the land.

Because of this great warning from the Lord, the prophets, priests and teachers work hard, patiently preaching to their people, the Nephites.

They teach them the law of Moses, that it was given to persuade us to look forward to the Messiah, and to believe in Him as if He had already come. These righteous men keep us, the Nephites, from being swept off the land of promise by constantly urging us to repent.

By the year 362 BC, for most of the time since Lehi had arrived in the promised land, there has been warfare between the us and the Lamanites.

I, Jarom, finish my writing because there is not much room left to engrave on these small plates.

Refer to Nephi's larger plates to find a record of our wars, as the Nephite kings have written, or have ordered to be written. I now give these plates to my son Omni, to keep according to my fathers' command.

The plates are passed on...
(compare Book of Omni)

My father, Jarom, commanded me, Omni, to continue writing our genealogy on these small plates of Nephi.

Most of my life has been spent as a warrior, defending my people against the Lamanites. But I myself am a wicked man and have not kept the Lord's statutes and commandments as I should have.

By the year 324 BC, we had gone through many periods of war and peace.

It is now 318 BC, and I have guarded these plates forty-four years. I now give them to my son Amaron.

Now I, Amaron, write a few things in my father's book.

By 280 BC, most of the wicked Nephites had been destroyed by the Lamanites. After saving Lehi's family from their enemies in Jerusalem, the Lord verified His warning to Lehi's posterity:

"If you do not keep my commandments, you will not prosper in the land."

This is why the Lord has already visited the wicked Nephites with great judgments. But He has spared the righteous from being killed by their enemies.

I will now give these plates to my brother Chemish.

Now I, Chemish, write a few things in this same book in which my brother Amaron wrote. I saw him engrave his entry on these plates the same day he gave them to me. Our fathers have been commanded to keep this record in this way.

Now I give these plates to my son.

I, Abinadom, am Chemish's son. I have seen many wars between my people, the Nephites, and the Lamanites, in which I have killed many Lamanites with my own sword while defending my brethren.

The history of this people is written on the large plates, which the kings keep and hand down from generation to generation.

Every revelation and prophecy I know of has been written, so I will not add to this sacred record.

Now I, Amaleki, am Abinadom's son. I will tell you a little about Mosiah, who was made king over the land of Zarahemla. He had been warned by the Lord to get out of the land of Nephi and to go into the wilderness. He was told to take with him all those who would listen to the Lord's voice.

Mosiah obeyed the Lord and went into the wilderness with as many as would listen. They were led by much preaching and prophesying and were constantly warned by the word of God. The Lord led them by the power of His arm as they made their exodus through the wilderness and came to this land of Zarahemla. Here they discovered a people, led by a man named Zarahemla. They were very happy when they understood that the Lord had sent Mosiah with the brass plates containing the Jews' records.

Note: In addition to bringing the brass plates out of the land of Nephi, Mosiah and Amaleki's father, Abinadom, brought Nephi's large and small plates and other sacred things (the Liahona, Laban's sword, and the interpreters). These things were passed down even until Mormon received them. (W of M 1:10-11, Mosiah 1:15-16, 29:42, Alma 37:14).

The people of Zarahemla were happy to have the brass plates from Jerusalem, for their ancestors had also come from Jerusalem when Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon.

Like Lehi, their ancestors had been brought by the hand of the Lord across the ocean to the very place where Mosiah discovered them. This place had been settled for 320 years.

Mosiah noted that the people of Zarahemla were very numerous, even though they had been having wars as well. Because they had not brought any records from Jerusalem, their language had become corrupted, and Mosiah could not understand their speech. They had also lost the knowledge of their Creator. And so Mosiah had his language taught to them.

After they learned the language, their leader, Zarahemla, recited his genealogy from memory. This genealogy is not written here, but on other plates (not translated).

The people of Zarahemla and the people of Mosiah united, and Mosiah was appointed to be their king.

During his reign, a large engraved stone was brought to Mosiah, and he interpreted the engravings by the gift and power of God.

The engravings were the history of a man named Coriantumr, and of his people who had all been killed. The first people of Zarahemla had found Coriantumr, who had lived with them for nine lunar months.

The engravings on the stone also told of Coriantumr's forefathers--how they had come from the tower of Babel when the Lord confused their language. They told of the Lord's severe yet fair judgments that had come upon Coriantumr's people, and that their bones were scattered on the ground in the northern land.

I, Amaleki, was born in the days of Mosiah. He has since passed away, and now his son Benjamin reigns here in Zarahemla.

During King Benjamin's reign, I have seen a serious war and great bloodshed between the Nephites and the Lamanites. But the Nephites under King Benjamin have driven the Lamanites out of the land of Zarahemla.

I am old now and have no children. Since I know King Benjamin is a just man before the Lord, I will soon give him these plates.

The messages on these plates invite all to come to God, the Holy One of Israel, and to believe in...

...prophesying
...revelations
...ministering of angels
...the gift of speaking in tongues
...the understanding of languages
...all good things

For good comes from the Lord and evil from the devil.

My beloved brothers and sisters, I invite you to come to Christ, the Holy One of Israel, and to partake of His salvation. Allow His power to redeem you.

Come to Him and offer your whole soul to Him, continuing to fast, pray, and to stay righteous throughout your lives. If you do this, then as the Lord lives, you will be saved.

Now I will tell you about a large number of Nephites who left Zarahemla and went through the wilderness on a quest to return to the land of Nephi (the place from which our fathers had come with Mosiah). They believed the land of Nephi was rightfully theirs as an inheritance.

Their leader was a physically strong man. He was also very stubborn, and this caused fighting to break out among those making the quest. Only fifty of his men survived this fighting in the wilderness, and they returned to the land of Zarahemla.

Then these fifty gathered another large group and went into the wilderness again.

I, Amaleki, had a brother who went with them. I have not seen nor heard from him since he and the group left.

Now I am old and will soon die. These small plates of Nephi are full, and I have finished engraving on them.

The plates are passed on...
(compare The Words of Mormon)

385 AD:

I, Mormon, am about to give my plates to my son Moroni. I have seen the death of almost all my people, the Nephites. I believe my son will witness their entire destruction.

May God spare him long enough to write about my people, and about Christ, so that someday his writings may be of value to my people's descendants among the Lamanites.

After I had engraved the Nephite history down to King Benjamin by referring to Nephi's large plates, I found Nephi's small plates. They contain many of Nephi's words and a brief account of the prophets from Jacob down to King Benjamin.

What pleases me most about Nephi's small plates is their account of the prophecies of Christ's coming. My ancestors knew that many of these prophecies had been fulfilled in their day.

I know the prophecies of my day have been fulfilled, and that the prophecies not yet fulfilled (like those made by Isaiah) surely will be. Because these prophecies will be fulfilled, I will pattern the rest of my record after them. I will do this as I continue referring to Nephi's large plates.

NOTE: Among all the plates available to Mormon, the few writings ("less than 1%") that he included in "the rest of his record" contain events that strictly followed the pattern set forth by Isaiah's prophecies. Isaiah wrote about patterns that will repeat themselves in the last days. This is why Mormon's record (The Book of Mormon), a book written to warn latter-day Israel, is patterned after Isaiah's writings.

And I cannot engrave even one percent of the history of my people, the Nephites.

Because these small plates are so choice to me, I am putting them with my plates before continuing my engraving.

I know the record of these small plates will also be choice to my brethren, the Lamanites, in the last days.

I am putting the small plates with mine because the Lord's Spirit tells me to. I don't know exactly why, for I don't know the future, but it must be for a wise purpose known to the Lord, who works His will through me.

My prayer to God is for my brethren, the Lamanites, to once again know God, to know of Christ's redemption, and to again become a delightful people.

Now I, Mormon, continue to engrave my record as I refer to Nephi's large plates. I do this according to the knowledge and understanding God has given me.

When King Benjamin received Nephi's small plates from Amaleki, he put them with Nephi's large plates that had been handed down by the kings from generation to generation.

All these plates have been handed down by King Benjamin, from generation to generation until I, Mormon, received them. I pray to God they will always be preserved, and I know they will be, for great things are written on them.

On the great and last day, my people the Nephites, and our brethren the Lamanites, will be judged by what is engraved on these plates.

Now back to King Benjamin.

His own people, the Nephites, fought a great deal among themselves.

Then the Lamanite armies came from the land of Nephi to attack them. King Benjamin gathered armies to defend his people, and he himself used Laban's sword while battling the Lamanites.

Because the Nephites were strengthened by the Lord, they killed several thousand Lamanites and chased the rest of them out of their lands of inheritance.

Among the Nephites, there had been false Christs who were silenced and punished according to their crimes.

There were also false prophets, preachers and teachers among the Nephites, who had caused much of the fighting and defecting to the Lamanites. They were also punished. With the assistance of the holy prophets among his people, King Benjamin had seen to this justice.

King Benjamin was a holy man, who reigned in righteousness. There were many other holy men in the land who spoke God's words with power and authority. They spoke sharply because the Nephites were stubborn.

With the help of these holy men, and by laboring with all the strength of his body and soul, King Benjamin established peace again in the land.