Verse 5: For because of faith and great anxiety, it truly had been made manifest unto us concerning our people, what things should happen unto them.
- Why?
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Verse 7-10 And also it grieveth me that I must use so much aboldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children, many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and bchaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God;
8 And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing aword of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.
9 Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to aadmonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds.
10 But, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict acommands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the bpiercingeye of the Almighty God.
- Why?
Verse 17-21 Think of your abrethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your bsubstance, that cthey may be rich like unto you.
19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to adogood—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.
20 And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him because ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you, what say ye of it?
21 Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his acommandmentsand glorify him forever.
- Why?
Verse 28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the achastity of women. Andbwhoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
Verse 31-33 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and aabominations of their bhusbands.
32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.
33 For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse
Verse 34-35 And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our afather, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done.
35 Behold, ye have done agreater 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 God against you. And because of the bstrictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.
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Verse 1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and apray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will bconsole you in your cafflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down djustice upon those who seek your destruction.
Verse 5-7 for they have not aforgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were bone wife, and cconcubines they should have none, and there should not be dwhoredomscommitted among them.
6 And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be amerciful unto them; and one day they shall bbecome a blessed people.
7 Behold, their ahusbands blove their cwives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their dunbelief 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?
- Why?
Verse 11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; aarouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may bawake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of chell that ye may not become dangels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second edeath.
- Why?
What does verse 14 mean? 14 aThese plates are called the plates of Jacob, and they werebmade by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words.
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Verse 7-8 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our aweakness that we may know that it is by his bgrace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.
8 Behold, great and marvelous are the aworks of the Lord. Howbunsearchable are the depths of the cmysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no mandknoweth of his eways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the frevelations of God.
- Why?
14 But behold, the Jews were a astiffnecked people; and theybdespised the words of cplainness, and dkilled the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their eblindness, which fblindness came by looking beyond the gmark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they hcannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may istumble.
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Verse
- Why?
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Verse 6-7 Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?
7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?
- Why? This verse asks in such simple terms why would we die, when what we need to do is laid out so clearly in front of us. I know it isn't sarcastic, because sarcasm isn't really used in the scriptures. However, coming from a home where I was raised with sarcasm, it almost seems like it is asking "Are you seriously going to choose to die after everything you have been taught and all of the good things he has given you? Are you going to do bad things when I have done so many good things for you?"
Verse 12 O be wise; what can I say more?
- Why? This has always been one of my favorite verses, just because of how plain it is to understand. I have trouble with authority; I always have. This scripture reminds me how much of my future and my present is up to me. There will always be unknown factors, but it is my choice to be wise. Jacob taught what he could, but in the end he knew that it was up to each individual person to be wise, to react to his teachings. I love that.
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Verse 4 And he was learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil.
- Why? This scripture talks about Shelem, the antichrist who prophesied against Christ and desired to turn men away from the truth. It describes him as a man who had a PERFECT knowledge of the language of the people. That is interesting to me because describing anyone as 'Perfect' at anything is not common in the gospel. It just proves to me that even though learning is important, even if you have a perfect knowledge of everything secular, you can still be in such a low place, and still be so ignorant to the things that are the most important. Sometimes I get caught up with learning in a secular way, so I need to try to keep that in mind. I need to put more effort into learning doctrine and regular schooling.
Verse 18 And he spake plainly unto them, that he had been deceived by the power of the devil. And he spake of hell, and of eternity, and of eternal punishment.
- Why? I also found it interesting that after Shelem had been struck and nourished by the Lord, he went from being described as a man using much power of speech and flattery, to someone described as speaking plainly to the people. It is a reminder that the ways of man are confusing, but the ways of the Lord are simple and straightforward. He doesn't want to make it hard for us to understand. A long time ago I have heard that in some churches they would not give out bibles or want their members to learn to be literate, because if only the clergy were able to read, they held more power over a congregation. That is man. The Lord wants us to be able to read his word, to understand it, and he wants our leaders to speak plainly and confidently to us. I think Shelem is a great example of that.
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