7:1 After prophesying about our posterity, the Lord inspired my father that his sons should marry and raise families in the promised land.
7:2 God instructed my father that I, along with my brothers, must return to Jerusalem to bring Ishmael and his household into the wilderness to join us.
7:3 So we went.
7:4 We went to the home of Ishmael, and he was pleased with us and we gained his trust. We shared the words of God with him.
7:5 The Lord softened the heart of Ishamel, and his family, and they journeyed with us into the wilderness to the tent of our father.
7:6 As we traveled on our journey, Laman, Lemuel, and two of Ishmael’s daughters and two sons, as well as their families, rebelled against me, Nephi, Sam and Ishmael, his wife and other three daughters.
7:7 This rebellion made them want to return to Jerusalem.
7:8 Their rebellion troubled me deeply. I implored my elder brothers Laman and Lemuel to soften their hearts. How could they remain so stubborn in the face of God’s power and miracles? Did they not remember the angel or God’s deliverance? I longed for them to open their spirits to the Lord’s word.
7:9 I kept urging them, “Why do you refuse to listen to God?”
7:10 Have you forgotten that you have seen an angel of the Lord?
7:11 Have you forgotten all the great things God has done for us, saving us from Laban and helping us obtain the record?
7:12 Have you forgotten that God can do all things according to his will, if we exercise faith in him?
7:13 If we stay faithful to God, He will lead us to the promised land. In time, you will see that everything the Lord foretold about Jerusalem’s ruin will come to pass. We must trust that His prophecies will be fulfilled.
7:14 The Spirit of God will be taken from those in Jerusalem for they have rejected the prophets and cast Jeremiah into prison. They tried to kill Lehi and drove him out.
7:15 If you return to Jerusalem you will die with them.
7:16 After I said these things to my brothers, they were angry with me. They held me, tied me up with cords and tried to kill me so that they might leave me in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.
7:17 But, I prayed unto God saying: O Lord, according to my faith, will you save me from my brothers? Will you give me strength so that I can burst the bands with which I am bound?
7:18 And after I prayed, the bands loosened from off my hands and feet and I stood again before my brothers.
7:19 Again my brothers grew angry and planned to kill me. But one of Ishmael’s daughters, her mother, and a son begged my brothers to stop. Their pleas softened my brothers’ hearts, and they relented.
7:20 And because of recognition of their wickedness, they became sorrowful, and they bowed down before me and pleaded with me to forgive them.
7:21 I did frankly forgive them of all that they had done and encouraged them to ask God for forgiveness. And they did. After they were done praying we traveled again towards the tent of our father.
7:22 And when we arrived at our father’s tent, they gave thanks to God and offered sacrifice and burnt offerings to him.