Jeffersonian 1 Jacob

The 1st Book of Jacob

--------------------Chapter 1--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 6

1 I, Jacob, spoke to the Nephites and said to them:

	2 "My beloved brothers and sisters, I, Jacob, have been encouraged by my brother, Nephi, to whom you look to as a king or protector and on whom you depend on for safety, to be a leader and a teacher among us.

	3 You know I have spoken to you many times over the years.

	4 I will speak to you again, because I want you to be happy and safe.

	5 I worry about my people constantly. You all know this!

	6 I have persistently encouraged you and I have taught you the words of my father.

	7 Now I will read you the words of our leader and ancestor Isaiah.

	8 There are many things my brother has wanted me to teach you.

	9 I teach you these things for your own sake, so that you will learn and understand them

	10 What Isaiah spoke applies to everyone.

	11 This is what Isiah said:

		12 'We will lift up our banner to the world!

		13 We will help people take care of their sons and daughters.

		14 Even kings and queens will honor us.'

	15 I want to tell you why that is important to me.

	16 I believe that the city we came from will one day destroy themselves and make themselves slaves.

	17 They did not listen to this simple lesson taught by our ancestors.

	18 Those that want to unite with us are happy because they live good and moral lives.

--------------------Chapter 2--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 7

	1 Isaiah continued by saying

		2 'When you are one of our people, we will not forsake you.

		3 When you are in need of help, we will help you.

		4 When you need to talk, we will talk with you.

		5 I speak as an educated person, so that I know how to best speak to you, my people.

		6 I wake up each morning tired, but I wake myself up to be there for you.

		7 I have not rebelled against you.

		8 I have not turned away from you.

		9 I have let those who are angry vent to me.

		10 I have accepted criticism and haven't been humiliated by it.

		11 Who will stand with me? Let us stand together.

		12 Who is my enemy? Let him come near me, and I will chastise him with my words alone.

		13 All those who condemn me will become like an old a garment and the moths will eat them.

		14 All of you that start fights and surround yourselves with contention, this I promise you: you will lie down in sorrow.

--------------------Chapter 3--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 8

		1 Listen to me as I teach you morality.

		2 Look at where we come from.

		3 Look to our ancestors, because none of you are learning from the lessons they taught.

		4 We need to comfort one another through hard times. If we do this, life will be like a paradise even though we live in the desert.

		5 We will find love and joy if we do this. We will thank each other and sing about how happy we are.

		6 Listen to me, my people! I give you great advice and you should follow it.

		7 I am ready to act with morality. I am ready to help you.

		8 There are many who are waiting for help.

		9 Look at the sky above you and look at the earth below you.

		10 One day the sky will poof away like smoke and the earth will get old like clothes

		11 Everyone who lives on earth will do the same.

		12 However, passing down good, honorable, and moral lessons, deeds, and habits can last forever.

		13 Don't be afraid of doing what's right, even if you're mocked for it.

		14 Immoral deeds are not fondly remembered, but moral deeds are.

		15 These moral deeds are remembered and passed down from generation to generation.

		16 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength and live as our honorable ancestors did.

		17 Don't we have a claim to this morality?

		18 Let's sing, love, be loved, and be happy forever. We gain these things together.

		19 Sadness will run away from us if we comfort each other.

		20 I have taught you these lessons and have wrapped you in my arms so that I can plant the seeds of morality, lay the foundations of love and joy, and so that I can say to you 'You are my people'.

		21 Wake up! Wake up! Stand up for goodness, my people!

		22 Many of you have been drinking wine to excess too much and have neglected your parenting duties.

		23 Now none of your children stand by you in your time of need.

		24 Who will sympathize with you? Who will console you?

		25 Now listen to me, you drunkards!

		26 Take the cup out of your hand and drink no more.

		27 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, my people! Put on your best clothes.

		28 Every day is a new day.

		29 Shake the dust off of yourselves and free yourself from the chains around your neck!

--------------------Chapter 4--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 9

	1 My beloved brothers and sisters, I have read you these things so you could know the teachings of our ancestors.

	2 These teachings have been handed down from generation to generation.

	3 My beloved brothers and sisters, I have taught you these things so you could be happy forever.

	4 I know many of you have wanted to hear these teachings.

	5 We all know that our bodies will get old, die, be buried, and will never rise again.

	6 Oh, the wisdom realizing this truth!

	7 Enjoy your life, because it is short and valuable.

	8 Be aware of your happiness and morality, as well as your sadness and immorality.

	9 We will all be judged and remembered by what we do in this life.

	10 Those who are immoral will be remembered as being immoral, and those who are moral will be remembered as being moral.

	11 Gloom follows those that know the right but do not choose it.

	12 Oh, the arrogance, imperfections, and the foolishness of men!

	13 Often times, when people are think they are smart they are prideful. They think they are wise, and they don't do the right thing.

	14 Their wisdom is pride and foolishness and it does them no good. They will not be remembered as being moral.

	15 To be smart is good, as long as they do the right thing.

	16 Gloom follows the rich who are greedy.

	17 Gloom follows the rich that despise the poor.

	18 Gloom follows the rich that persecute the meek.

	19 The rich's immoralities will be their legacy.

	20 Gloom follows those that will not hear the truth.

	21 Gloom follows those that will not see the truth.

	22 Gloom follows the stubborn.

	23 Gloom follows the liar.

	24 Gloom follows the murderer.

	25 Gloom follows those who violate trust and have hurt another.

	26 In short, gloom follows all those who hurt one another, because they leave behind an unfavorable legacy.

	27 Oh, my beloved brothers and sisters, remember the awfulness in harming one another.

	28 Remember: to be selfish is death and to be selfless is life eternal.

	29 Oh, my beloved brothers and sisters, listen to my words!

	30 Remember the greatness of serving your people.

	31 Do not say that I have said harsh things to you.

	32 If you do, you revile against the truth.

	33 I know that the words of truth are hard, but those that are moral have nothing to fear, because they love the truth and are not scared by it.

	34 Oh, my beloved brothers and sisters, do the right thing!

	35 Remember the paths that are moral!

	36 Do not be arrogant regarding your beliefs and money.

	37 Throw this arrogance away! If you do not, you are fools and happiness will evade you.

	38 Oh, my beloved brothers and sisters, remember my words.

	39 All men will be judged for what they did in this life.

	40 Oh, my beloved brothers and sisters, turn away from your misdeeds.

	41 Shake off the chains of him that bind you!

	42 Prepare yourself for a glorious legacy, so that you will not be afraid of how you will be remembered.

	43 And now, my brothers and sisters, I will speak to you more tomorrow the rest of what I have to say."

--------------------Chapter 5--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 10

1 The next day I, Jacob, spoke to my people again and said:

	2 "I speak to you, my brothers and sisters, again regarding morality.

	3 This land will be our land and we will all live happily upon it.

	3 This land will be a land of liberty to all.

	4 We will fortify this land against all other nations.

	5 Those that fights against us will lose, because we fight for that which is moral.

	6 For that reason, for this cause, we must destroy the secret works of darkness, murders, and evil.

	8 My beloved brothers and sisters, those that want to join us should become one of us.

	9 I dedicate this land to our descendants and those that join our descendants, forever, because this is their land.

	10 This land is better than any other and all should be welcomed to it.

	11 We have been driven out of the land of our inheritance, but we have found a better land.

	12 We used the sea as our path and we are upon an island in the sea.

	13 Those who live upon the islands of the sea are a good people.

	14 There must be other islands which are inhabited by other people, because there are other people who have sought freedom like ourselves.

	15 Be happy! We are free! We may live happy and peaceful lives as we help each other.

	16 We will leave good legacies behind us."

--------------------Chapter 6--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 11

1 I, Jacob, said many more things to the Nephites at that time, but these are the things that are important enough to write down.

2 My brother Nephi wants me to teach and quote more of the words of Isaiah, because he is happy when he hears his words.

3 Isaiah relates his words to all our people.

4 We teach the words of Isaiah so that whoever understands these lessons can find love and joy in life.

5 These are the words; and you may relate them to yourself:

--------------------Chapter 7--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 12

	1 "One day a nation will be founded that will be admired by the whole world.

	2 And many people will say, 'Let us move to the nation which is admired for their morality'.

	3 This nation will have no use for swords and will turn them into plows.

	4 They will have no use for spears so they will turn them into tools to prune.

	5 No nation will lift up their swords against this nation, and this nation will not learn the art of war.

	6 Oh, my people, we could be this nation!

	7 However, we have a lot of work to do to make this happen.

	8 We must give up our greed of silver, gold, horses, and chariots.

	9 We must give up our false beliefs.

	10 We must not be greedy.

	11 Even the greatest and handsomest of men must be humble.

	12 If you do immoral deeds and harm one another you set us back from reaching this goal.

	13 When we achieve such a society, men will throw their false beliefs and greed to the moles and bats.

--------------------Chapter 8--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 13-14

	1 We could lose our food, water, and everything that we depend on to survive.

	2 We could also lose our heroes, soldiers, judges, leaders, elders, army officers, honored, counselors, craftsmen, and public speakers.

	3 There would be no one left but children to lead us if this happened.

	4 Life would be very difficult for everyone and many would make life harder for others in an effort to make life easier for themselves.

	5 Everyone would scramble to find someone to lead them out of that chaos.

	6 Everyone who would be asked to be a leader will decline because they would have the same hardships as everyone else.

	7 How could this happen?

	8 It could happen if we do not work together and help one another.

	9 We should feed everyone who is hungry.

	10 If we work together we will be a beautiful and glorious people and there will be plenty for everyone.

	11 We should create a place where we are able to help one another through the numerous hardships of life.

	12 In this place, we can give shelter to those who need it, and a calm from the storm that rages for them.

--------------------Chapter 9--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 15

	1 My lover had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

	2 He fenced it in, removed unwanted stones, planted the best grape vines, built a watchtower in the middle of it, and also made a wine press.

	3 He wanted to grow good grapes, but only bad grapes grew.

	4 What's the difference between lover and his vineyard and me and my people?

	5 What more could have been done for his vineyard that he hadn't already done? Why did only bad grapes grow?

	6 This is what could have been done: destroy the hedge and the wall around it.

	7 Make the land a wasteland. Do not cultivate the land and allow thorns to grow there. Don't even let it rain there.

	8 The vineyard is like our people. The people are the vines in the vineyard.

	9 We were expected to be moral but we have shed blood and hurt one another.

	10 Gloom follows those that hoard wealth so that others have none. You will live alone.

	11 Many rich people will become poor and their great and fair cities will be without inhabitants.

	12 Their 10 acres of vineyard will produce very little wine.

	13 Their wheat fields will produce very little wheat.

	14 Gloom follows those that rise up early in the morning so they can get drunk and stay drunk till they pass out at night!

	15 They may be enjoying themselves but it is a false and short-lived joy.

	16 Our people have done this and become slaves.

	17 Many do not know any other life.

	18 Our moral teachers are starving and dying of thirst.

	19 Death is knocking on our door, and if we do not cease, even our most moral will welcome death over life.

	20 We must all be humble and admit our wrong doings and forsake them.

	21 Gloom follows those that deceive others.

	22 Gloom follows those that call evil good, and good evil;

	23 Gloom follows those that call darkness light, and light darkness

	24 Gloom follows those that call bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!

	25 Gloom follows those that are wise and prudent only in their own eyes!

	26 Gloom follows those that are drunkards.

	27 Gloom follows those that forgive immorality only when they are bribed to do so

	28 Gloom follows those that take away justice from the innocent!

	29 These gloomy people will be like a fire that consumes hay or husks of grain, their root will rot, and their flowers will turn to dust because they have rejected morality.

	30 We have suffered as a society.

	31 We need to forsake these immoral behaviors and act as examples as if the whole world were watching. One day it will.

	32 No one should grow tired of acting with morality and take a break from it.

	33 Our arrows should be sharp, our bows strung, our horses’ hoofs should be ready to ride, and the wheels of our chariots should be like a whirlwind and the roar of a lion.

--------------------Chapter 10--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 16

	1 The earth is filled with love and joy.

	2 The whole earth shakes with it.

	3 Gloom to me! I have not loved like I could have and I live with people who have no love.

	4 I resolve now to create love and joy for myself and for others.

	5 I will strive to always listen and understand others.

	6 I will strive to always be seeing and perceiving.

	7 I will set an example of how I want to be treated by other people.

	8 I will endeavor to do this until all the cities of the earth no longer have people living in them!

--------------------Chapter 11--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 17-18

	1 There was once 2 kings named Rezin and Pekah who wanted to rage war against our people and our king Jotham, but they did not succeed.

	2 We had allies that helped us even though they were scared to do so.

	3 They were calm and brave.

	4 We worked together and overcame the attacks.

	5 We did not let it stand, we did not accept defeat!

	6 We ate butter and honey, refused to live immoral lives, and to chose to do the right things.

	7 Our enemies did not choose to live moral lives, and one day they will forsake their kings.

	8 A time will come when they will experience a famine and they will not work together for their own betterment.

	9 They will have to sacrifice a lot during this time and ultimately, they will work together.

	10 They will be like a new people.

	11 Their cows and sheep will be fed.

	12 They will have plenty of milk and butter, and everyone will be able to eat.

	13 Their lands will be wastelands where there once were vineyards and will be difficult to cultivate, and it will be used for nothing but hunting and grazing.

	14 My son was born around the time of the attacks.

	15 I knew he would not even be old enough to know who his mother and father were before Rezin and Pekah were forsaken as kings.

	16 Though we may experience the same famine as our enemies, we will work together and prevail!

	17 There’s not a conspiracy everywhere you look. Don't be so afraid of things.

	18 Act with morality, follow those who act with morality, and don't be afraid to act with morality either.

	19 Many will struggle with this simple advice.

	20 Write these struggles down, so that they can be remembered.

	21 If we give into these struggles, we will see hardships, depression, and anguish.

	22 If this happens, we can still overcome it.

--------------------Chapter 12--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 19

	1 We need to seek the wisdom of those who have been through the things we are going through.

	2 They have already helped us so much. They have worked hard and helped us find joy in our lives today.

	3 They found the way when no one knew it and they want us to emulate them now with their help.

	4 They fought the battles when no one else would.

	5 The arrogant and immoral will say that we should carve out a new path for such hard times, but they fail to recognize that the times when we have attempted that we have failed.

	6 Good leaders encourage people to work together and love one another.

	7 Bad leaders seek to do the opposite, have no mercy, and are hypocrites.

	8 If we follow bad leaders, it will be like a fire that consumes hay or husks of grain, our roots will rot, and our flowers will turn to dust because we will have rejected morality.

	9 We will be so hungry we will consider eating our own arms!

	10 We need to work together.

--------------------Chapter 13--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 20

	1 Gloom follows those that enact unjust laws.

	2 There are greedy people who would seek to suppress your liberty.

	3 They take away from the poor and take advantage of the vulnerable.

	4 If we overcome our hardships and those who attack us we can say

		5 'By the strength of our hands and wisdom we have done these things

		6 We are prudent.

		7 We have found many riches in overcoming our hardships.'

	8 That is why we must not be afraid of our enemies

	9 We will overcome the hardships they bring together.

	10 We will lift off the burdens from each other’s shoulders and carry them together and these burdens will dissolve.

--------------------Chapter 14--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapters 21-22

	1 There will be others that teach us how to find joy, love, and work together in the future as well.

	2 We must listen to their words of wisdom and understanding.

	3 These leaders will not judge based on what they quickly observe but will look more inwardly.

	4 They will help the needy and vulnerable while denouncing those who refuse to do so.

	5 They will truly be moral.

	6 If we were to always follow and understand their lessons life would be like a paradise.

	7 We should help everyone in all nations find and create this paradise.

	8 If that day comes, there will be no more hardships for all of mankind.

	9 If that day comes, we will be able to trust and not be afraid, because all mankind will put love and joy above all else.

	10 We should joyously do good things.

	11 If that day comes, we will tell others how happy we are.

	12 We will sing about how excellent it is to be alive to the whole world.

--------------------Chapter 15--------------------

Traditionally composing of 2nd Nephi chapter 23-24

	1 Lift up a banner upon the tallest mountain!

	2 Shout and wave your hands so people can learn how to be moral as well.

	3 Help these people who want to learn.

	4 Be a loud noise in the mountains!

	5 Even if they come from a far country on the ends of the earth, help them.

	6 There are many whose hands are faint and their hearts broken.

	7 They are afraid, hurt, and sad.

	8 Look for them! Help them!

	9 Help them until the stars, moon, and sun no longer shine.

	10 Those that are without morality and practice evil will one day reap what they sow. Their arrogance and pride will be their downfall.

	11 Everyone is more precious than bricks of pure gold.

	12 Do everything you can to help those that are more precious than gold.

	13 If you treat others nicely, others will treat you nicely.

	14 If we do this, we will have a break from the hardships, fear, and sadness of life.

	15 We will rejoice over the conquering of contention.

	16 The chains that bind us will be broken.

	17 The world will be so happy even the trees will be joyous."