Jacob I

the book of Jacob the brother of Nephi the words of his preaching unto his brethren he confoundeth a man who seeketh to overthrow the doctrine of Christ a few words concerning the history of the people of Nephi 1for behold it came to pass that fifty and five years had passed away from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem wherefore Nephi gave me Jacob a commandment concerning these small plates upon which these things are engraven 2and he gave me Jacob a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious that I should not touch save it were lightly concerning the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi 3for he said that the history of his people should be engraven upon his other plates and that I should preserve these plates and hand them down unto my seed from generation to generation 4and if there were preaching which was sacred or revelation which was great or prophesying that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates and touch upon them as much as it were possible for Christs sake and for the sake of our people 5for because of faith and great anxiety it truly had been made manifest unto us concerning our people what things should happen unto them 6and we also had many revelations and the spirit of much prophecy wherefore we knew of Christ and his kingdom which should come 7wherefore we labored diligently among our people that we might persuade them to come unto Christ and partake of the goodness of God that they might enter into his rest lest by any means he should swear in his wrath they should not enter in as in the provocation in the days of temptation while the children of Israel were in the wilderness 8wherefore we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God to provoke him to anger but that all men would believe in Christ and view his death and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world wherefore I Jacob take it upon me to fulfill the commandment of my brother Nephi 9now Nephi began to be old and he saw that he must soon die wherefore he anointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people 10now according to the reigns of the kings the people having loved Nephi exceedingly he having been a great protector for them having wielded the sword of Laban in their defense and having labored in all his days for their welfare 11wherefore the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name and whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people second Nephi and third Nephi etc according to the reigns of the kings and thus they were called by the people let them be of whatsoever name they would 12and it came to pass that Nephi died 13now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites nevertheless they were called Nephites Jacobites Josephites Zoramites Lamanites Lemuelites and Ishmaelites 14but I Jacob shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names but I shall call them Lamanitess they that seek to destroy the people of Nephi and they which are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites or the people of Nephi according to the reigns of the kings 15and now it came to pass that the people of Nephi under the reign of the second king began to grow hard in their hearts and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices such as like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines and also Solomon his son 16yea and they also began to search much gold and silver and began to be lifted up somewhat in pride 17wherefore I Jacob gave unto them these words as I taught them in the temple having firstly obtained mine errand from the Lord 18for I Jacob and my brother Joseph had been consecrated priests and teachers of this people by the hand of Nephi 19and we did magnify our office unto the Lord taking upon us the responsibility answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence wherefore by laboring with our mights their blood might not come upon our garments otherwise their blood would come upon our garments and we would not be found spotless at the last day