All segment titles and their associated verse designations are derived from the section headings that appear in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition - edited by Grant Hardy and published by the BYU Maxwell Institute. Verses are organized into sense lines that are parallel to the verse texts in The Book of Mormon: the Earliest Text - as edited by Royal Skousen and published by Yale. Audio clips are derived from Book of Mormon chapter mp3 audio recordings provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the official Church website.


Unit 5

Segment 9 of 15 [#046]

Nephi's Brothers Murmur

1 Nephi 17:17 - 1 Nephi 17:22

Duration: 1:55

contextual study / concordance



1 Nephi 17:17

And when my brethren saw that I was about to build a ship,

they began to murmur against me, saying:

Our brother is a fool,

for he thinketh that he can build a ship;

yea, and he also thinketh that he can cross these great waters.


1 Nephi 17:18

And thus my brethren did complain against me,

and were desirous that they might not labor,

for they did not believe that I could build a ship;

neither would they believe that I was instructed of the Lord.


1 Nephi 17:19

And now it came to pass that I, Nephi, was exceedingly sorrowful

because of the hardness of their hearts;

and now when they saw that I began to be sorrowful

they were glad in their hearts,

insomuch that they did rejoice over me, saying:

We knew that ye could not construct a ship,

for we knew that ye were lacking in judgment;

wherefore, thou canst not accomplish so great a work.


1 Nephi 17:20

And thou art like unto our father,

led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart;

yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem,

and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years;

and our women have toiled, being big with child;

and they have borne children in the wilderness

and suffered all things, save it were death;

and it would have been better that they had died

before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions.


1 Nephi 17:21

Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness,

which time we might have enjoyed our possessions

and the land of our inheritance;

yea, and we might have been happy.


1 Nephi 17:22

And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem

were a righteous people;

for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord,

and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses;

wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people;

and our father hath judged them,

and hath led us away because we would hearken unto his words;

yea, and our brother is like unto him.

And after this manner of language

did my brethren murmur and complain against us.



The End of Unit 5 - Segment 9