Mosiah 11

Noah was wicked. He was not true to his wife. This is terrible in the eyes of the Lord. Noah made the people pay tax of one fifth of all they had. He did this to support his sins and the sins of his priests.

He fired the good priests and put bad ones in their place. They were lifted in pride and were lazy. They would not work; they took what they wanted from the people.

The people became wicked, too. The priests taught the people that husbands and wives did not need to be true to each other. King Noah built many fancy buildings with gold and silver and iron and brass and copper. He forced the people to build him a palace and a throne of gold and silver and many fancy things.

The walls of the temple were decorated with fine wood, copper and brass. Golden couches were made for the high priests to rest on while they spoke lies to the people. King Noah built a high tower. It was so high that he could stand on the top and see all the land of Shilom and all the land of Shemlon.

He spent the riches he got from the people and he chased women. He made wine and became a drunk.

God would punish them when their sins were full. The Lamanites began to come in small numbers. King Noah’s armies drove them back at first. The people bragged that their fifty could fight against thousands of Lamanites.

There was a man among them whose name was Abinadi. He went among the people saying: The Lord has seen your evil. If you do not repent, God will visit you in anger. He will give you to your enemies and you will be brought into slavery. Then you will cry to God for help, but He will be slow to hear you.

When Abinadi finished, the people were angry. They tried to kill him, but the Lord rescued him.

When King Noah heard Abinadi’s words, he was angry. He said: Who is Abinadi to judge me and my people? Who is this Lord that will bring hardship on my people? Bring Abinadi here so I can kill him. He has said these things to stir up my people against each other. I want to kill him.

The eyes of the people were blinded and their ears were hardened against the words of Abinadi. They tried to find him, but they could not catch him.