3 Nephi
Third Book of Nephi
The Son of Nephi, Who Was the Son of Helaman
The risen Christ comes to America
Preface · from the original edition
And Helaman was the son of Helaman, who was the son of Alma, who was the son of Alma, being a descendant of Nephi who was the son of Lehi, who came out of Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah.
Chapters
- 1Unbelievers set a date to execute everyone waiting for Samuel's sign. Nephi prays all day, and that night there is no darkness — and a new star.
- 2The sign fades in memory and the people call it a trick. Converted Lamanites join the Nephites, and both take the field against the Gadianton robbers.
- 3Giddianhi writes to the governor demanding surrender. Lachoneus gathers everyone into one place, and Gidgiddoni refuses to march out to meet them.
- 4The robbers besiege a people who brought seven years of food with them. Starved out, they break, and their leader Zemnarihah is hanged on a tree.
- 5The robbers are converted or executed, and Mormon steps forward to introduce himself: a disciple of Jesus Christ, and a pure descendant of Lehi.
- 6Peace, highways, and then ranks. Judges who murder the prophets who accuse them enter a secret pact, and the government is destroyed from the top.
- 7The nation breaks into tribes, each with its own chief. Nephi ministers with such power that even angels attend him, and few will listen.
- 8The storm at the crucifixion: cities burned, sunk, and buried, the whole face of the land deformed, and three days of a darkness that could be felt.
- 9A voice in the darkness names the cities that fell and why, then says who is speaking: I am Jesus Christ. Offer me a broken heart from now on.
- 10The voice speaks of gathering them as a hen gathers her chicks. Then silence for hours, the darkness lifts, and the mourning turns to joy.
- 11At the temple in Bountiful a voice is heard three times before they understand it. Christ descends, and the whole crowd comes forward to touch his wounds.
- 12The Beatitudes, given to the crowd at Bountiful: the poor in spirit who come to him, the salt of the earth, and the law fulfilled in his own person.
- 13The Lord's Prayer, and the counsel on giving in secret, fasting without a sad face, and treasures where neither moth nor rust corrupts.
- 14Judge not; ask and it shall be given; the narrow gate; and the two houses, one built on rock and one on sand when the rain comes down.
- 15Christ explains that the law of Moses is fulfilled in him, and tells the twelve that they are the other sheep he spoke of at Jerusalem.
- 16There are other sheep still, in another land. Christ tells what happens if the Gentiles reject the gospel — and what happens if they repent.
- 17Seeing the crowd cannot bear more, Christ stays anyway: he heals everyone who is sick, weeps twice, and blesses the children one by one.
- 18Christ gives bread and wine and sets the pattern for the sacrament: do this in remembrance, pray always, and never cast anyone out of your meetings.
- 19The next day the twelve baptize, and fire encircles them. Christ prays three times for them in words no tongue can speak or write.
- 20Christ provides bread and wine from nothing, then teaches the covenant to the house of Jacob and quotes Isaiah on the arm of the Lord made bare.
- 21The sign that the Father's work has begun, and the servant who will bring the words to the Gentiles — and what will be cut off from the land.
- 22Isaiah 54 in modern English: sing, O barren one; enlarge your tent; and no weapon formed against you shall prosper.
- 23Christ tells them to search Isaiah. Then he asks for the record, finds Samuel's prophecy missing from it, and has it written in.
- 24Malachi 3 in modern English, given by commandment: the refiner's fire, the question of robbing God, and the windows of heaven opened.
- 25Malachi 4 in modern English: the day that burns as an oven, healing in the wings of the Son of Righteousness, and Elijah sent before that day.
- 26Christ expounds all things from the beginning to the end. Mormon says he wrote a lesser part, and that the greater is held back for now.
- 27The disciples ask what to call the church. Christ answers, and gives the plainest statement in the book of what his gospel actually is.
- 28Nine disciples ask for a speedy return to God; three do not dare say what they want. Christ grants all of them, and changes the three.
- 29Mormon's warning to a later day: when these things come out, do not spurn them, and do not mock the Jews or any remnant of Israel.
- 30Two verses to the Gentiles, in Christ's own words: turn from your wicked ways and be numbered with the house of Israel.