Enos

Chapter 1

Enos prays mightily and gains a remission of his sins—The voice of the Lord comes into his mind, promising salvation for the Lamanites in a future day—The Nephites sought to reclaim the Lamanites—Enos rejoices in his Redeemer. About 420 B.C.

 1 Behold, it came to pass that I, ^aEnos, knowing my father that ^bhewas a just man—for he ^ctaught me in his language, and also in the^dnurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—

 2 And I will tell you of the ^awrestle which I had before God, before I received a ^bremission of my sins.

 3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the ^ajoy of the saints, ^bsunk deep into my heart.

 4 And my soul ^ahungered; and I ^bkneeled down before my Maker, and I ^ccried unto him in mighty ^dprayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

 5 And there came a ^avoice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are^bforgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

 6 And I, Enos, knew that God ^acould not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

 7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?

 8 And he said unto me: ^aBecause of thy ^bfaith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee ^cwhole.

 9 Now, it came to pass that when I had heard these words I began to feel a ^adesire for the ^bwelfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did ^cpour out my whole soul unto God for them.

 10 And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my ^amind again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have ^bgiven unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I ^ccurse it not save it be for the cause of iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their ^dtransgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.

 11 And after I, Enos, had heard these words, my ^afaith began to be ^bunshaken in the Lord; and I ^cprayed unto him with many long^dstrugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites.

 12 And it came to pass that after I had ^aprayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy ^bdesires, because of thy faith.

 13 And now behold, this was the desire which I desired of him—that if it should so be, that my people, the Nephites, should fall into transgression, and by any means be ^adestroyed, and the Lamanites should not be ^bdestroyed, that the Lord God would^cpreserve a record of my people, the Nephites; even if it so be by the power of his holy arm, that it might be ^dbrought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that, perhaps, they might be^ebrought unto salvation—

 14 For at the present our strugglings were ^avain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would ^bdestroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers.

 15 Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to ^apreserveour records, I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.

 16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would^apreserve the ^brecords; and he covenanted with me that he would^cbring ^dthem forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time.

 17 And I, Enos, ^aknew it would be according to the covenant which he had made; wherefore my soul did rest.

 18 And the Lord said unto me: Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done unto them according to their faith; for their faith was like unto thine.

 19 And now it came to pass that I, Enos, went about among the people of Nephi, prophesying of things to come, and testifying of the things which I had heard and seen.

 20 And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to ^arestore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our^blabors were vain; their ^chatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a^dblood-thirsty people, full of ^eidolatry and ^ffilthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in ^gtents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the ^hbow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us.

 21 And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the land, and ^araise all manner of grain, and of fruit, and ^bflocks of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle of every kind, and goats, and wild goats, and also many horses.

 22 And there were exceedingly many ^aprophets among us. And the people were a ^bstiffnecked people, hard to understand.

 23 And there was nothing save it was exceeding ^aharshness,^bpreaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually ^creminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up ^dcontinually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them.

 24 And I saw ^awars between the Nephites and Lamanites in the course of my days.

 25 And it came to pass that I began to be old, and an hundred and seventy and nine years had passed away from the time that our father Lehi ^aleft Jerusalem.

 26 And I saw that I ^amust soon go down to my grave, having been wrought upon by the power of God that I must preach and prophesy unto this people, and declare the word according to the truth which is in Christ. And I have declared it in all my days, and have rejoiced in it above that of the world.

 27 And I soon go to the place of my ^arest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall ^brest. And I rejoice in the day when my ^cmortal shall put on ^dimmortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the ^emansions of my Father. Amen.

Acts 26

Chapter 26

Paul recounts his former persecution of the Saints as a Pharisee—He testifies of the appearance of Jesus on the Damascus road—Paul bears his testimony to King Agrippa.

 1 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:

 2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

 3 Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.

 4 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;

 5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a ^aPharisee.

 6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:

 7 Unto which promise our ^atwelve tribes, ^binstantly serving Godday and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

 8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should ^araise the dead?

 9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things^acontrary to the ^bname of Jesus of Nazareth.

 10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the ^asaintsdid I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to ^bdeath, I gave my ^cvoiceagainst them.

 11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelledthem to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto ^astrange cities.

 12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

 13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a ^alight from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

 14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, ^aSaul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick ^bagainst the pricks.

 15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have ^aappeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a ^bwitness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I ^asend thee,

 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from ^adarkness to ^blight, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

 19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not ^adisobedient unto the heavenly ^bvision:

 20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

 21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to ^akill me.

 22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the ^aprophets and Moses did say should come:

 23 That Christ should ^asuffer, and that he should be the first that should ^brise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

 24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee ^amad.

 25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.

 26 For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.

 27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou^abelievest.

 28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou ^apersuadest me to be a ^bChristian.

 29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.

 30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them:

 31 And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of ^adeath or of bonds.

 32 Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto ^aCæsar.