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Book of Mormon Commentary
1 Nephi Chapter 1
An account of Lehi and his wife Sariah, and his four sons, being called (beginning at the eldest), Laman,
Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem, because he
prophesieth unto the people concerning their iniquity; and they seek to destroy his life. He taketh three
day's journey into the wilderness with his family. Nephi taketh his brethren and returns to the land of
Jerusalem after the record of the Jews. The account of their sufferings. They take the daughters of
Ishmael to wife. They take their families and depart into the wilderness. Their sufferings and afflictions
in the wilderness. The course of their travels. They come to the large waters. Nephi's brethren rebelleth
against him. He confoundeth them, and buildeth a ship. They call the place Bountiful. They cross the
large waters into the promised land, &c. This is according to the account of nephi; or in other words, I,
Nephi wrote this record.
THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM, VER. 1, 2
1 Ne 1:1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the
learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days -- nevertheless, having
been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and
the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days; yea, I make a record in
the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.
1:1 Nephi's training in a Hebrew household taught him to respect his parents. The fifth
commandment of the Decalogue (Deut. 5: 16) directs children to "honor thy father and thy
mother."
The father was responsible for the religious life of the household and was its chief functionary.
Within his domain (clan) he had well-nigh absolute authority. The reverence given him was close
to that given a deity.
"Therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father." A good father, according to
this statement, was a faithful teacher of his sons (Gen. 18:17, 18; Deut. 6:7; Prov. 3:12; 13:1).
"Therefore I make a record “in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the
Jews and the language of the Egyptians." Nephi understood the importance of keeping records. He
risked his life to get the records on the plates of brass (I N. 1:113-120). (The people of Zarahemla
were handicapped because they brought no spiritual or historical records, and their language had
become corrupted [0. 1:25-31].)
Lehi was bilingual (Mn. 4:98, 99) and a man of intellectual ability. Egypt was a close neighbor of
Israel, and it is possible that Lehi had trade relations with Egyptian merchants which gave him
greater facility in the use of their language.
The language of the Nephites, the great majority of the peoples who inhabited ancient America,
was the Hebrew language, which was the language of Jerusalem at the time both the Nephites and
the Mulekites left there. Yet, Hebrew was not the language of the engravings on the plates from
which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.
Moroni, the last of the Nephites to handle the plates, in referring to the language used says, "We
have written, in the characters, which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed
down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech." He explains that they did not write in
Hebrew for the sake of brevity, and then adds, "but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also" and
declares "none other people knoweth our language," which necessitated the use of the Urim and
Thummim for translation of the Book of Mormon (Mn. 4:98-100).