3:1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that
are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind,
and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will
console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your
cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your
destruction. |
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3:2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your
heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast
upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm,
forever. |
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3:3 But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in
heart, that are filthy this day before God; for except ye
repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the
Lamanites, which are not filthy like unto you,
nevertheless they are cursed with a sore cursing, shall
scourge you even unto destruction. |
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3:4 And the time speedily cometh, that except ye
repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance,
and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from
among you. |
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3:5 Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye
hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which
hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you;
for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord,
which was given unto our father--that they should have
save it were one wife, and concubines they should have
none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among
them. |
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3:6 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 merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a
blessed people. |
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3:7 Behold, their husbands love their wives, and
their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and
their wives love their children; and their unbelief 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? |
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3:8 O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall
repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than
yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the
throne of God. |
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3:9 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which
is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them
because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye
revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye
shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that
their filthiness came because of their fathers. |
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3:10 Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how
that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example
that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye
may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto
destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at
the last day. |
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3:11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse
the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may
awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves
from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to
the devil, 1to be cast into that lake of fire and
brimstone which is the second
death. |
[1] Revelation 21:8: ...in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. |
3:12 And now I, Jacob, spake many more things unto
the people of Nephi, warning them against fornication and
lasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the
awful consequences of them. |
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3:13 And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this
people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written
upon these plates; but many of their proceedings are
written upon the larger plates, and their wars, and their
contentions, and the reigns of their kings. |
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3:14 These plates are called the plates of Jacob,
and they were made by the hand of Nephi. And I make an
end of speaking these words. |
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