Mosiah XII

28now it came to pass that after the sons of Mosiah had done all these things they took a small number with them and returned to their father the king and desired of him that he would grant unto them that they might with those whom they had selected go up to the land of Nephi that they might preach the things which they had heard and that they might impart the word of God to their brethren the Lamanites 2that perhaps they might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers and that perhaps they might cure them of their hatred towards the Nephites that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God that they might become friendly to one another and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God hath given them 3now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature for they could not bear that any human soul should perish yea even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble 4and thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them for they were the very vilest of sinners and the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities and suffering much fearing that they should be cast off forever 5and it came to pass that they did plead with their father many days that they might go up to the land of Nephi 6and it came to pass that king Mosiah went and inquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word 7and the Lord said unto Mosiah let them go up for many shall believe on their words and they shall have eternal life and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites 8and it came to pass that Mosiah granted that they might go and do according to their request 9and they took their journey into the wilderness to go up to preach the word among the Lamanites and I shall give an account of their proceedings hereafter 10now king Mosiah had no one to confer the kingdom upon for there was not any of his sons which would accept of the kingdom 11therefore he took the records which were engraven upon the plate of brass and also the plates of Nephi and all the things which he had kept and preserved according to the commandments of God and after having translated and caused to be written the records which were on the plates of gold which had been found by the people of Limhi which was delivered to him by the hand of Limhi 12and this he done because of the great anxiety of his people for they were desirous beyond measure to know concerning those people which had been destroyed 13and now he translated them by the means of those two stones which was fastened into the two rims of a bow 14now these things was prepared from the beginning and was handed down from generation to generation for the purpose of interpreting languages 15and they have been kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord that he should discover to every creature which should possess the land the iniquities and abominations of his people 16and whosoever has the things is called seer after the manner of old times 17now after Mosiah had finished translating these records behold it gave an account of the people which was destroyed from the time that they were destroyed back to the building of the great tower at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people and they were scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth yea and even from that time until the creation of Adam 18now this account did cause the people of Mosiah to mourn exceedingly yea they were filled with sorrow nevertheless it gave them much knowledge in the which they did rejoice 19and this account shall be written hereafter for behold it is expedient that all people should know the things which are written in this account