“I Did Frankly Forgive Them”
1 Nephi 7:19–21
19 And it came to pass that they were angry with me again, and sought to lay hands upon me; but behold, one of the daughters of Ishmael, yea, and also her mother, and one of the sons of Ishmael, did plead with my brethren, insomuch that they did soften their hearts; and they did cease striving to take away my life.
20 And it came to pass that they were sorrowful, because of their wickedness, insomuch that they did bow down before me, and did plead with me that I would forgive them of the thing that they had done against me.
21 And it came to pass that I did frankly forgive them all that they had done, and I did exhort them that they would pray unto the Lord their God for forgiveness. And it came to pass that they did so. And after they had done praying unto the Lord we did again travel on our journey towards the tent of our father.
President Russell M. Nelson wrote:
“Nephi had . . . sterling qualities . . . . Even more uncomfortable than sun and desert must have been the challenges of dissension within his father’s family. Lehi and Sariah’s colony spent a total of eight years in the wilderness. Laman and Lemuel were older than Nephi, rebellious against both him and their father, Lehi. Divine intervention was necessary on several occasions to keep those sons from thwarting the plans of their prophet-father. Shortly after Lehi’s death, Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishamel openly rebelled against Nephi—the spiritual successor to their father—insomuch that they sought to kill him, as they had done several years previously. Nonetheless his attitude was still kind and brotherly, as when he had said, ‘I did frankly forgive them all that they had done’ (see 1 Ne. 7:16, 21; 2 Ne. 5:2).”
(In Heroes from the Book of Mormon [1995], 4.)
