1st Nephi's Original Chapters Can Help with Understanding

The Way Our Chapters and Verses are Organized Is Not the Original Way Nephi Organized Them

Nephi organized his chapters for 1st Nephi a bit differently that we see them today. In the original printed version of the Book of Mormon the chapters breaks translated by Joseph Smith from Nephi were used. Latter in 1879, Orson Pratt reformatted the book into 22 thematic chapters. Those chapter breaks are still used today in the official versions of the book. As a side note, the Community of Christ still uses Nephi's original chapter breaks in their version of the book.

By looking at how Nephi organized the book, some larger themes emerge. In 1 Nephi 1:17 Nephi tells us part of how he is going to organize the book.

"Behold, I make an abridgment of the record of my father, upon plates which I have made with mine own hands; wherefore, after I have abridged the record of my father then will I make an account of mine own life."

I have found it helpful to see how Nephi laid out his themes into chapters. I find more nuance and more meaning by thinking about the "how" as well as the "what" Nephi is telling his descendants (and us of course) on these plates. (The summaries below are not Nephi's I borrowed them from the book "1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction" by Joseph M. Spencer.)

Part 1 - Abridgement of Lehi's Record

• Original Chapter I - Lehi's First Visions, Departure from Jerusalem, Return for the Plates

  • 1 Nephi 1

  • 1 Nephi 2

  • 1 Nephi 3

  • 1 Nephi 4

  • 1 Nephi 5

• Original Chapter II - Second Return for Ishmael’s Family, the Dream of the Tree of Life

  • 1 Nephi 6

  • 1 Nephi 7

  • 1 Nephi 8

  • 1 Nephi 9

Part 2 - Nephi's Own Proceedings, Reign, and Ministry

• Original Chapter III - Nephi's Long Vision of Israel's History

  • 1 Nephi 10

  • 1 Nephi 11

  • 1 Nephi 12

  • 1 Nephi 13

  • 1 Nephi 14

• Original Chapter IV - Nephi's Explanation of his Father's Dream to his Brothers

  • 1 Nephi 15

• Original Chapter V - Desert Trek, Building a Ship, Ocean Voyage, Prophecies

  • 1 Nephi 16

  • 1 Nephi 17

  • 1 Nephi 18

  • 1 Nephi 19 (Chapter V ends at 19:21)

• Original Chapter VI - Quotation of Brass Plates Prophecies: Isaiah 48-49

  • 1 Nephi 20 (Chapter VI begins at 19:22)

  • 1 Nephi 21

• Original Chapter VII - Nephi's Explanation of Isaiah to his Brothers

  • 1 Nephi 22

---

Come Follow Me

As I have mentioned previously - as member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have the opportunity to study “together” the scriptures and share our thoughts, discuss as families and friends, and learn to be better disciples of Christ as we help each other. We call this program “Come Follow Me”. There is daily personal study, family discussions, sharing with friends, and Sunday classes all there to help support our learning and improving. The way this works is each year we study a part of the scriptures so that we are generally all working at the same pace or same area. This does not mean people do not read, study, use or listen to other parts of scripture, just that it give us a little structure to help lift each other and be lifted by insights of others through the year.

This year our area of study of The Book of Mormon. Because of that, I may occasionally do some of my writing and posts here on that topic. I hope that even if you are not of my faith, you will not just pass these by. My goal is to improve my writing, share what I’m thinking about, and maybe discuss with others their thoughts.

That being said, let’s discuss the first prophet in the Book of Mormon. The father of the people that will travel to a new hemisphere and start a new civilization.