Page:PlainBookOfMormon.pdf/177

 anger that they would not enter, just as He did when the children of Israel fell into temptation in the wilderness.

We hope with God's help we might persuade all people not to rebel against Him--not to provoke His anger, but to believe in Christ, who would suffer and die on the cross while bearing the shame of the world.

Because of these desires, I, Jacob, take it upon myself to fulfill the commandment from my brother Nephi.

When Nephi was old and realized that he would soon die, he anointed a man to be king and ruler over his people as the people had desired.

The people loved Nephi very much, for he had been their great protector, defending them with Laban's sword, and he had worked for their temporal and spiritual welfare all his life.

Because they loved him so much, the people wanted to remember his name. So they decided that whoever reigned from then on would be called Nephi--second Nephi, third Nephi, etc., according to the reign of the kings.

Those who reigned as king from then on were known as Nephi, and not by their actual names. Then Nephi died.

All those who were not Lamanites were called Nephites, even though there were Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites and Ishmaelites.

I, Jacob, will not refer to them by these names, but will refer to those who try to destroy Nephi's people as Lamanites. And I will refer to those who are friendly to Nephi as Nephites.