1 Nephi 16

My brothers protested against my words, declaring, “What you say is very harsh, and hard for us to bear.”

“People who are guilty of wickedness,” I replied, “will see the truth as harsh. The righteous will be lifted up, and the guilty will be cut down. If you were willing to be righteous, willing to listen to the truth, and live your lives as God wants you to, you wouldn’t complain about the harshness of my words.” After this explanation, my brothers repented again and gave me hope that they had finally relented in their opposition to God’s will.

We had been staying in the Valley of Lemuel since leaving Jerusalem and having twice returned, for Laban’s brass plates and again for Ishmael’s family. During this time my brothers, Zoram, and I had each made matches with Ishmael’s five daughters and married them. One night, God spoke again to my father Lehi, and commanded him to gather up his party and continue our journey on the following day.

When Lehi got up in the morning, he discovered that during the night God had left a magical object at the doorway of his tent. It was a finely made brass ball with two spindles. It was named the Liahona. One of the spindles acted like a compass, and pointed in the direction we were supposed to go. And so, that morning, we left our comfortable valley and crossed the river in the southeasterly direction that the Liahona indicated. As we traveled we hunted for wild game with our slings and arrows. We followed the fertile eastern shoreline of the Red Sea and found ample food as we went.

One day while I was out hunting, I broke my steel bow, and my brothers’ bows lost their camber, making them useless for further hunting. Tired from traveling, hungry, and in the middle of the wilderness, our party became dissatisfied and began dissenting against God’s plan. Even my father was now grumbling and feeling let down by God. Rather than doing nothing, I fashioned a new bow and made arrows from available materials. When I was armed, I approached my father and asked where he thought I should go in search of food.

Again God spoke to Lehi and reprimanded him for his loss of faith. This caused my father to have much regret and sorrow. “Look at the brass ball that I have given you,” commanded God, “and read what is written on it.” In addition to being a compass pointing the way, the Liahona also conveyed God’s intents and guidance in writing, according to the faith and diligence that we brought to it. When my father read the words God had written on the ball, he and the rest of our party were humbled with fear. As we went, the writing changed from time to time to provide us with more help in fulfilling God’s plan for us.

Following the written instructions on the magic brass ball, I went up alone on a mountaintop and successfully hunted plentiful wild game with which to feed our party. With our stomachs full and our faith restored, we all humbled ourselves to God and gave thanks.

We continued our long arduous journey, traveling and resting, then traveling and resting again. One night, Ishmael died in his sleep; we buried his body in the wilderness. In grief, Ishmael’s daughters blamed my father for this fool’s journey which had cost their father’s life. “We have suffered hardships, hunger, thirst, and endless weariness,” they complained. “We are fearful that this journey will go nowhere except to our own deaths also. We want to return to Jerusalem.”

My brothers and the sons of Ishmael also wanted to return to Jerusalem. “Let’s kill our father and our brother Nephi,” my brother Laman said. “Who does our younger brother Nephi think he is, to set himself up as our ruler and teacher? He says he talks with God and with angels, but we know that it is all a pack of lies to deceive us and make us submit to his will. He seeks to take us into some strange wilderness and make himself king over us.”

Before their group anger could bring about our deaths, God appeared to them also. In convincing and no uncertain terms he reproached them for their plotting against Lehi, against God, and against me. Hearing this, they repented, and agreed to continue on our journey, receiving God’s blessings of guidance and food.