An account of the people of Nephi, according to his record.

CHAPTER 1

The Nephites and the Lamanites are all converted to the Lord—They have all things in common, work miracles, and prosper in the land—After two centuries, divisions, evils, false churches, and persecutions arise—After three hundred years, both the Nephites and the Lamanites are wicked—Ammaron hides up the sacred records. About A.D. 35–321.

1 The thirty-fourth and -fifth years passed, and the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands. Whoever came to them and truly repented of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus, and they received the Holy Ghost.

2 In the thirty-sixth year, all the people everywhere were converted to the Lord, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions or disputations among them, and every man dealt honorably with each other.

3 They shared all things in common among them, so there were no rich or poor, bond or free. They were all made free and partakers of the heavenly gift.

4 Peace continued in the thirty-seventh year.

5 Great and marvelous works were done by the disciples of Jesus: they healed the sick, raised the dead, caused the lame to walk, gave sight to the blind, and healed the deaf; and they did all kinds of miracles among the people; and all miracles were done in the name of Jesus.

6 The thirty-eighth through the fifty-ninth years ended, and the Lord prospered them exceedingly in the land, and they built cities again where there had been cities burned.

8 They built the great city Zarahemla again.

9 But there were many cities that had been sunk, covered by water, so they could not be rebuilt.

10 The Nephites grew strong and multiplied very quickly, and they became an exceedingly beautiful and delightsome people.

11 They were married and blessed according to the many promises the Lord had made to them.

12 They didn’t follow the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses anymore, but they did follow the commandments they had received from the Lord their God, continuing in fasting, prayer, and meeting together often to pray and hear the word of the Lord.

13 There was no contention among all the people, and the disciples of Jesus worked mighty miracles.

14 The seventy-first through the hundredth years passed, and the disciples of Jesus had all gone to the paradise of God, except for the three who stayed behind, and other disciples were ordained in their place.

15 There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God in the hearts of the people.

16 There was no envy, strife, upsets, whoredoms, lying, murder, nor any manner of lustful behaviors, and surely there could not be a happier people ever created by the hand of God.

17 There were no robbers or murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were one, the children of Christ and heirs to the kingdom of God.

18 How blessed they were! The Lord blessed them in all their doings, and they were blessed and prospered until a hundred and ten years had passed away, and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.

19 Nephi died—the man who kept this last record on the plates of Nephi—and his son Amos kept it in his place, also on the plates of Nephi.

20 And Amos kept the record eighty-four years, and there was still peace in the land, except for a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken on them the name of Lamanites, so there began to be Lamanites again in the land.

21 Amos died one hundred and ninety-four years from the coming of Christ, and his son Amos then kept the record on the plates of Nephi, in the book of Nephi, which is this book.

22 Two hundred years had passed away, and the second generation had all passed away except for a few.

23 I, Mormon, want you to know that the people multiplied, so they were spread all over the land, and they became exceedingly rich because of their prosperity in Christ.

24 In this two hundred and first year there were those who began to be lifted up in pride, such as wearing expensive clothes and all kinds of fine pearls and fine things of the world.

25 From then on the people did not share their goods and resources in common.

26 They began to divide into classes and build up churches for themselves for profit, and began to deny the true church of Christ.

27 When two hundred and ten years had passed away, there were many churches in the land that claimed to know the Christ, but they denied most of his gospel, so they received all kinds of wickedness and administered sacred things to those forbidden to take because of unworthiness.

28 These churches multiplied greatly because of iniquity and because of the power of Satan, who got hold on their hearts.

29 There was another church that denied the Christ, and they persecuted the true church of Christ because of their humility and belief in Christ; and they despised them because of the many miracles that were worked among them.

30 They used power and authority over the disciples of Jesus who stayed behind, and they threw them in prison, but by the power of the word of God in them the prisons were torn apart, and they went about doing mighty miracles among them.

31 But despite all these miracles, the people hardened their hearts, and tried to kill them, just like the Jews at Jerusalem tried to kill Jesus, as he said.

32 The people threw the three into furnaces of fire, but they came out unharmed.

33 They threw them in with wild beasts, but they played with the beasts like a child with a lamb, and they came out unharmed.

34 But the people hardened their hearts because they were led by many priests and false prophets to build up many churches and do all manner of iniquity. And they hit the people of Jesus, but the people of Jesus did not hit back. So they weakened in unbelief and wickedness from year to year, until two hundred and thirty years had passed away.

35 In the two hundred and thirty-first year, there was a great division among the people.

37 The true believers in Christ (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.

38 Those who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites, and they did not just shrink into unbelief, but they wilfully rebelled against the gospel of Christ and taught their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers had done from the beginning.

39 It was because of the wickedness and abomination of their fathers, even as it was in the beginning. And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning.

40 Two hundred and forty-four years passed away, and the more wicked part of the people grew strong and became much more numerous than the people of God.

41 They continued to build up churches to themselves and adorn themselves with all kinds of precious things. So two hundred and fifty years passed away, then two hundred and sixty years.

42 The wicked part of the people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton.

43 Even the people of Nephi began to be proud because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like their brethren, the Lamanites.

44 From this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world.

45 When three hundred years had passed, both the Nephites and Lamanites became exceedingly wicked.

46 The robbers of Gadianton spread over all the land, and no more were there righteous people except for the disciples of Jesus. And the people gathered gold and silver in abundance, and did all kinds of commerce.

47 After three hundred and five years had passed away, and the people remained wicked, Amos died, and his brother, Ammaron, kept the record.

48 When three hundred and twenty years had passed, Ammaron, led by the Holy Ghost, hid the sacred records that had been handed down for generations from the coming of Christ.

49 He hid them up to the Lord so they could come again to the remnant of the house of Jacob, according to the prophecies and promises of the Lord. And the record of Ammaron ended.