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1 Nephi 1:12-13

"And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord."

I love that Spirit is capitalized in this verse. The uppercase letter denotes the proper noun which is really neat when you think about it. I also occasionally forget when I read this that he is still having a vision. Interestingly enough you can feel these kind of things during a vision. I know that it shouldn't surprise me because I can feel fear and joy and all sorts of emotions during a dream. I am also including the next verse in today's study because these go really well together.

"And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem- that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon."

Okay, so this is cool! Nephi quotes one line from the book (probably the only line that his dad really quoted) and then goes on to kind of paraphrase. The one line that he gives though, tells us some cool things. We learn that this book is God's word. It is literally a book of God's dialogue with Jerusalem. I wonder if this book was prepared for this purpose or if there really is a book that God has his dialogue with his people written in. I guess all things are created spiritually before they are created physically, right? So Lehi reads a whole bunch of things that will happen to Jerusalem.

I guess this book could be a few things. It could be documentation of the words of the prophets, it could be the future, it could be written in God's own hand. Regardless of how it was generated, or what it's purpose is, Lehi read about the future. Interesting that instead of God showing Lehi the destruction, he has him read about it. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have always assumed that Lehi really loves Jerusalem. We know he has lived there is whole life and that he does what he can to save the city, but perhaps a vision of the destruction of Jerusalem would have been too much. Maybe it was an act of mercy to not show him everything.

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