1 Nephi 16–22 — “I Will Prepare the Way before You.”

Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024 — January 29–February 4
Official unit: 1 Nephi 16–22
Official quoted lesson title: “I Will Prepare the Way before You.”¹

← Previous: 1 Nephi 11–15 — Armed with Righteousness and with the Power of God | Next: 2 Nephi 1–2 — Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life, through the Great Mediator →

Opening Thesis: God Prepares More Than a Road

The promise at the center of this week is conditional but not transactional: “I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments” (1 Nephi 17:13). It does not mean that faithful people receive an obstacle-free route. The official manual points to a broken bow, death, family conflict, raw materials, and an ocean voyage, then asks us to notice what good people do when hard things happen.²

Across these seven chapters the Lord prepares three things at once:

A way: the Liahona, food, ore, tools, instruction, wind, scripture, and covenant promises.
A people: travelers learn faith, work, repentance, endurance, and dependence on Christ.
A memory: after reaching land, Nephi turns immediately to sacred records and Isaiah so a displaced family will know it has not been forgotten.

The wilderness is therefore not dead time between Jerusalem and the promised land. It is the workshop in which a promised-land people is made. Tyler Griffin summarizes the pattern well: God could have moved the family directly, but the journey gave them opportunities to become more like the Savior and deepen relationships; “the journey often prepares them for the place.”³

What to Watch for While Reading

Every form of guidance: dream, Liahona, changing writing, parental counsel, prayer, commandment, scripture, and the still-small correction of consequences.
The repeated pairing of divine preparation and human initiative.
Two interpretations of the same wilderness: “great were the blessings” versus “we have suffered.”
Exodus echoes: departure, murmuring, miraculous food, a guiding object, Moses’ example, sea crossing, and promised land.
Movement from story (chapters 16–18) to scripture and interpretation (chapters 19–22).
The verbs of covenant mercy in Isaiah: call, refine, redeem, comfort, remember, gather, and preserve.
Nephi’s answer to fear: the righteous are not flawless people who rescue themselves; they are repentant people preserved “by his power.”

The Seven Chapters at a Glance

Chapter	Scene	Prepared means	Formed capacity
16	Liahona, broken bow, Ishmael’s death	Direction that responds to faith; a wooden bow; prophetic inquiry	Heed, initiative, humility, family influence
17	Eight-year wilderness; Bountiful; ship command	Nourishment, ore, tools, revelation “from time to time”	Gratitude, courage, work, trust without a complete plan
18	Ship completed; storm; promised land	Lord-taught workmanship, compass, wind, chastening	Repentance, endurance, intercession, deliverance
19	New plates; witnesses of Christ; Isaiah introduced	Sacred records and prophetic testimony	Remembering the Redeemer; likening scripture
20	Isaiah 48	Refining, new revelation, a Redeemer who teaches	Covenant integrity and peace through hearkening
21	Isaiah 49	Servant, light, mother-love, engraved palms	Hope for the forgotten and gathered Israel
22	Nephi interprets Isaiah	Prophecy, Restoration, Abrahamic covenant, Messiah	Faithful participation in gathering; “need not fear”

Historical and Literary Context

A Book of Mormon exodus

Nephi’s narrative deliberately invites comparison with Israel’s Exodus. Lehi’s people leave a condemned city, travel through wilderness, murmur over food and leadership, receive divine direction and nourishment, rehearse Moses’ deliverance, cross a sea, and inherit a promised land. John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch chart twenty-seven proposed parallels; S. Kent Brown and Noel Reynolds separately develop the exodus and Moses typology.⁴ These are literary and scholarly readings rather than an official declaration that every narrative detail is a type. The safest use is the one Nephi himself makes in chapter 17: what God did through Moses proves that He can prepare another impossible way.

The local Unshaken study makes the same narrative observation devotionally: 1 Nephi begins with something like Genesis—family origin, tree, fall, sibling conflict—and arrives here at Exodus—wilderness, murmuring, miraculous food, divine guidance, sea, and promised land.⁵

The Arabian journey and responsible claims about Nahom

Nephi says the party traveled “nearly a south-southeast direction” before turning “nearly eastward” after Ishmael was buried “in the place which was called Nahom” (1 Nephi 16:13, 33–34). Warren Aston surveys ancient southern-Arabian inscriptions containing the consonants NHM and a long-lived Nihm tribal name. That is meaningful contextual evidence because Nephi treats Nahom as a preexisting name, unlike places his family names themselves.⁶

But the evidence should not be inflated. The inscriptions do not mention Lehi, Ishmael, or the Book of Mormon, and NHM may identify a tribe or region rather than one pinpointed burial site. It is cumulative historical context, not an archaeological proof-text. See A History of NaHoM.

Why Isaiah appears after the landing

Chapters 20–21 quote Isaiah 48–49, and chapter 22 gives Nephi’s interpretation. S. Kent Brown argues that this placement serves both public and pastoral purposes: Nephi connects his family to Israel’s scattering and gathering and finds in Isaiah hope for people separated from homeland, temple, and kin.⁷ Isaiah is not an unrelated appendix. After the family’s physical arrival, Nephi gives them a covenant map for living as a broken-off branch without believing they are forgotten. See What Is Isaiah Doing in First Nephi? and Isaiah.

The Unit’s Major Threads

1. Guidance usually gives the next faithful step, not the whole route

The Liahona points “whither we should go” and displays changing writing, but it does not hand Lehi an eight-year itinerary or Nephi a finished ship plan. Griffin notices that the director gives the next part of the journey rather than advance instructions for Nahom or shipbuilding: “This is literally line upon line, one step in front of another.”⁸

That restraint is mercy as well as testing. A complete map might produce spectators who admire a plan; sufficient light produces disciples who repeatedly turn toward the Giver. The Lord’s title promise is not “I will disclose the entire way” but “I will prepare the way.”

2. The Liahona is responsive, not automatic

The pointers work “according to the faith and diligence and heed” given to them (1 Nephi 16:28–29). Alma later explicitly likens the director to the words of Christ, which point a straight course to eternal bliss (Alma 37:38–47). The official manual accordingly asks readers to compare the Liahona with the Holy Ghost and identify the “small means” through which God has done great things.⁹

Don’t Miss This offers a helpful caution: the ball was God’s instrument, not the family’s savior. David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman emphasize that people might credit the Liahona, the ship, music, or scripture, when the real Deliverer is God working through those means.¹⁰

3. Revelation and initiative are partners

When the bows fail, Nephi does not demand a miracle meal. He makes a bow and arrow, then asks his chastened father where he should hunt. When commanded to build a ship, he does not begin with “I have never done this”; he asks where to find ore for tools. Faith is neither passivity nor self-sufficiency. Nephi brings what he can make, then seeks the direction only God can give.

This also shows restorative influence inside a family. Lehi has murmured, but Nephi still honors his prophetic role and gives him a concrete opportunity to inquire. The official children’s section uses this scene to ask how one person’s example can bless a family.¹¹

4. The same wilderness can become either a school or an indictment

Nephi and his brothers describe the same journey differently:

Nephi’s covenant lens — 1 Nephi 17:1–3	Laman and Lemuel’s grievance lens — 1 Nephi 17:20–22
“We did wade through much affliction.”	“We have wandered in the wilderness.”
“So great were the blessings of the Lord upon us.”	“Our women have toiled… and suffered.”
God “doth nourish” and “strengthen” the faithful.	Jerusalem’s people were righteous; departure was foolish.
Affliction and blessing can coexist.	Affliction proves the journey was a mistake.

The text does not require denial of pain: Ishmael really dies, children are born in hardship, and the family really wades through affliction. The difference is whether suffering becomes evidence that God is absent or a place to discover that He nourishes. followHIM calls the contrast a covenantal rather than transactional relationship with God.¹²

5. “After the manner which the Lord had shown”

Nephi repeatedly goes to the mountain and prays, and the Lord teaches him “from time to time” (1 Nephi 18:1–3). The ship is not built “after the manner of men,” yet revelation does not eliminate craftsmanship: ore must be located, bellows made, timber worked, and family labor organized. The resulting ship is “exceedingly fine,” a phrase that joins revealed pattern and consecrated skill.

A vivid way to teach this is the workshop, not the vending machine. A vending machine returns a selected result after payment; a workshop changes raw material through repeated instruction and effort. Covenants are not transactions that purchase ease. They place us in Christ’s workshop, where even shipbuilders are built.

6. First Nephi ends with a larger promised land

The family reaches land in chapter 18, but Nephi refuses to end the book with geography. Chapters 19–22 widen “promised land” into covenant belonging. The God who guides one family across an ocean will remember Israel on every “isle of the sea,” reveal His arm to all nations, and gather His children through the seed of Abraham. The last destination is not merely a continent; it is safe dwelling “in the Holy One of Israel” through repentance (1 Nephi 22:28).

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

1 Nephi 16

1 Nephi 16:1–6 — Hard truth and a softened response

“The guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.”

Laman and Lemuel call Nephi’s teaching hard; Nephi replies that truth is hard chiefly when people resist it. Yet the scene does not end in verbal victory. They humble themselves, and Nephi has “joy and great hopes.” Correction fulfills its purpose when relationship and repentance matter more than winning.

Come, Follow Me connection: When truth cuts, ask two questions: Is the claim true? and What faithful repair does it invite? Sharpness without hope can become cruelty; hope without truth cannot heal.

1 Nephi 16:7–9 — Marriages, family, and departure

The marriages create a more complete traveling community before the final departure from the valley of Lemuel. Nephi places “I… took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife” beside “I… had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.” The text says little about courtship, so details about which daughter Nephi married remain speculation. What is clear is that covenant movement is not a solo trek; spouses, children, parents, and in-laws will share both wilderness and promise.¹³

1 Nephi 16:10–16 — A director at the tent door

“A round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass.”

The family receives an unexpected physical instrument with two spindles. Significantly, Nephi does not call it Liahona here; that name appears later in Alma 37. It points daily and leads them not out of wilderness but through “the more fertile parts of the wilderness.”¹⁴

That phrase corrects a common expectation about revelation. Sometimes guidance removes a danger; sometimes it identifies the livable ground inside a danger that must still be crossed. The daily question is not only “How do I escape?” but “Where is the fertile part in which God wants me to act today?”

1 Nephi 16:17–22 — Broken bows and contagious murmuring

Nephi’s steel bow breaks; the others’ bows lose their springs; hunger follows. Even Lehi murmurs. The story is candid about spiritual leadership: prophets and parents can experience pressure, fear, and correction. It is equally candid about blame. Laman and Lemuel focus anger on Nephi while their own equipment has failed.

Come, Follow Me connection: Before blaming the designated “food getter,” inspect your own bow. What contribution, maintenance, apology, or creative workaround is actually within your stewardship?

1 Nephi 16:23–32 — One bow, one arrow, and one faithful question

“I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow.”

Nephi neither pretends the steel bow is unbroken nor waits helplessly. He makes an imperfect replacement and asks Lehi, “Whither shall I go to obtain food?” The question restores Lehi’s prophetic action. The Lord chastens him; he inquires; the writing directs; Nephi hunts; the family is fed.

The memorable image is not a warehouse of arrows but one made arrow. followHIM uses it as a picture of initiative: God can work with a wooden bow and a single arrow when a disciple takes the available next step.¹⁵

1 Nephi 16:33–39 — Nahom: grief at the turning point

Ishmael dies and is buried at Nahom. His daughters’ mourning is not condemned; grief is appropriate. The danger comes when grief, accumulated affliction, and predictions of inevitable starvation are weaponized into rebellion and a plan to kill Lehi and Nephi. The Lord’s voice interrupts and chastens them, and they repent.

The eastward turn after Nahom is both geographical and emotional. A burial place becomes the hinge toward Bountiful. God does not call the death good, but He keeps preparing a way after it.

1 Nephi 17

1 Nephi 17:1–6 — Eight years compressed into six verses

“We did wade through much affliction in the wilderness.”

Pregnancy, childbirth, raw meat, strengthened women, and divine nourishment fill the summary. Avoid romanticizing the hardship or treating the women as scenery: Nephi specifically honors their strength and capacity to sustain children. The party finally reaches a fertile coast they call Bountiful and sees the sea they call Irreantum.

Come, Follow Me connection: The manual invites readers to retell a present trial from the perspective of faith and gratitude—not to erase pain, but to notice nourishment and strength that grievance alone cannot see.¹⁶

1 Nephi 17:7–16 — “Where shall I go that I may find ore?”

Nephi goes to a mountain and receives a command to build a ship. His first recorded question seeks ore for tools. He knows enough to identify an actionable dependency, while trusting the Lord for the design he lacks. He makes bellows and fire; the Lord explains that the no-fire wilderness had itself been part of His protecting and teaching work.

The title promise appears here. The Lord will be light, will prepare the way, and will bring them to know—not merely suspect—that He delivered them. The purpose of the journey is relational knowledge: “ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God” (1 Nephi 17:14).

1 Nephi 17:17–22 — Mockery and a false memory of Jerusalem

Laman and Lemuel mock before Nephi has failed. Their deepest argument is not nautical but theological: Lehi was foolish, Jerusalem was righteous, and loss proves the exodus was wrong. Nostalgia edits out the prophetic warnings and turns possessions into evidence of happiness.

Teaching question: What “Jerusalem” do we idealize only because the present command is difficult? Faithful memory must include both what was loved and why the Lord said to leave.

1 Nephi 17:23–35 — Moses, exodus, and a God without favorites

Nephi answers by rehearsing Moses’ deliverance. The point is not “God helped a hero long ago,” but “the God who opened that way can open this one.” He also rejects ethnic entitlement: the Lord “esteemeth all flesh in one”; those who keep His commandments prosper according to His promises.

This is covenant particularity without divine favoritism. Israel is chosen for a mission and promise, not because God loves other peoples less. Link the scene to Abrahamic Covenant: election is meant to bless “all the kindreds of the earth,” a theme Nephi makes explicit in chapter 22.

1 Nephi 17:36–47 — Creation, commandment, and remembered deliverance

The Creator made earth to be inhabited and raises nations according to His purposes. Nephi then recounts how repeatedly Laman and Lemuel have seen angels, heard the Lord, and been delivered. His lament—“Ye were past feeling”—diagnoses the issue as more than insufficient evidence. A person can receive a loud voice while becoming insensitive to a quiet one.

Come, Follow Me connection: Spiritual perception is not only asking God to speak louder. It includes repenting of habits that make us less able to feel.

1 Nephi 17:48–55 — Power that restrains rather than destroys

Nephi is filled with power and commands his brothers not to touch him. Later the Lord tells him to stretch out his hand, and they are shaken—not destroyed—so they may know the Lord is with him. Nephi then explicitly forbids worship of himself: “worship the Lord thy God.”

The episode distinguishes delegated power from personal greatness. A true sign redirects attention upward and produces labor: after being humbled, the brothers help build.

1 Nephi 18

1 Nephi 18:1–6 — Revelation “from time to time” and an exceedingly fine ship

“The Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers.”

Revelation arrives iteratively. Nephi prays often; the Lord shows much; the family works. When the ship is complete, even those who resisted can see that its workmanship is exceedingly fine. They humble themselves before the Lord before launching.

Come, Follow Me connection: For a difficult project, replace “Give me the entire plan” with three questions: What has the Lord already shown? What tool can I make? Where is today’s mountain of prayer?

1 Nephi 18:7–8 — New life before the crossing

Jacob and Joseph have been born in the wilderness, and the families carry provisions and seed. The ship transports more than survivors. It bears a rising generation and the capacity to plant a future.

1 Nephi 18:9–16 — Celebration becomes insensibility

Singing and dancing are not inherently condemned. Nephi objects when behavior becomes rude and forgetful of the power that has preserved them. His brothers bind him; the compass ceases to work; a great storm drives the ship backward for four days.

The sequence illustrates consequence without simplistic arithmetic. Not every storm proves sin, but here the narrator explicitly links rejected prophetic warning, disabled guidance, and lost progress. The Lord allows the crisis “that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word.”

1 Nephi 18:17–22 — Suffering, prayer, repentance, and calm

Lehi and Sariah nearly die from grief; Jacob and Joseph need nourishment; Nephi’s wrists and ankles swell. Nephi does not claim immunity. He praises God and does not murmur. When the brothers finally see destruction is near, they release him. He takes the compass, prays, and the storm ceases.

This is not a formula that the most faithful person feels the least pain. It is a witness that pain need not decide one’s allegiance. The family’s deliverance also requires repentance by those who caused the crisis.

1 Nephi 18:23–25 — Arrival, tents, seeds, ore

The travelers arrive, pitch tents, till the soil, and find animals and ore. “Promised” does not mean “finished”: they must plant. The chapter closes with resources for a society, while chapter 19 will turn ore into plates for a sacred memory.

1 Nephi 19

1 Nephi 19:1–6 — Ore becomes record

Nephi makes plates and distinguishes between a fuller history and a sacred record focused on ministry and prophecy. He acknowledges human weakness without using it to excuse carelessness. A people needs crops to live now and scripture to remain covenantally alive across generations.

1 Nephi 19:7–14 — The trampled God suffers it

“They set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels.”

Nephi interprets “trampling” God: it means treating Him as nothing and refusing counsel. He then cites prophets on the brass plates—Zenock, Neum, and Zenos—whose full writings are not in the present Bible, as witnesses of Christ’s scourging, crucifixion, death, and the signs accompanying it.

The repeated “he suffereth it” carries both pain and willing endurance. Unshaken calls attention to Christ’s “loving kindness and his long-suffering”: He receives cruelty without returning it in kind.¹⁷ This is devotional interpretation grounded in Nephi’s words, not a claim that suffering itself is virtuous apart from Christ’s redemptive purpose.

1 Nephi 19:15–21 — Remembered on the isles of the sea

Nephi moves from Christ’s rejection to Israel’s remembrance. When Israel turns its heart back to the Holy One, the Lord will remember covenants and gather His people. Nephi identifies his own people among those on the isles, making the prophecy immediate rather than abstract.

Teaching image: An island is a visible picture of scattering—land separated by water. Isaiah’s covenant is the bridge no ocean can sever. Unshaken develops this metaphor: no matter how isolated a scattered branch feels, God remembers and gathers.¹⁸

1 Nephi 19:22–24 — Likening scripture without hijacking it

“I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.”

Good likening has two movements. First ask what Isaiah meant in his historical and covenant setting; then ask how the same revealed pattern illuminates Nephi’s people and us. Likening is not replacing Israel with ourselves or making every line secretly about a modern concern. Nephi preserves the house of Israel as the first audience while finding genuine hope for a broken-off branch.

1 Nephi 20 (Isaiah 48)

1 Nephi 20:1–8 — Covenant name without covenant reliance

Isaiah addresses people who bear Israel’s name and claim the holy city but do not rely upon the God of Israel “in truth nor in righteousness.” The Lord announces new things so hearers cannot credit idols. Covenant identity is gift and vocation, not camouflage.

Come, Follow Me connection: Where do I use a faithful label—member, parent, leader, disciple—without relying on Christ in the corresponding practice?

1 Nephi 20:9–16 — The furnace and the God who calls

“I have refined thee… I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”

The furnace image does not mean every affliction was individually sent as punishment. In context it declares that covenant rebellion has consequences, yet God does not abandon His name or redemptive purpose. Griffin places Isaiah 48–49 within the hope-filled latter portion of Isaiah: after scattering and judgment, God reestablishes covenant and gathers.¹⁹

The One who calls Israel is the First and Last, Creator of earth and heavens. His capacity grounds trust: the wilderness route may be unknown to the travelers, but it is not unknown to its Maker.

1 Nephi 20:17–22 — A Redeemer who teaches us to profit

The Lord identifies Himself as Redeemer and teacher, “who leadeth thee by the way thou shouldst go.” If Israel had hearkened, peace would have flowed like a river. The chapter then recalls water from the rock during the Exodus. Nephi’s desert-crossing family could readily liken that image to its own nourishment and guidance.

“There is no peace… unto the wicked” is not permission to assume every anxious person is wicked. It closes a covenant warning: persistent refusal of the Redeemer’s way cannot produce the wholeness His way is designed to give.

1 Nephi 21 (Isaiah 49)

1 Nephi 21:1–6 — The servant and a light to the Gentiles

The servant is called from the womb, given a mouth like a sharp sword, and made a polished shaft. The passage can speak at more than one level—Israel’s vocation, a prophetic servant, and ultimately the Messiah’s saving mission. Its horizon is global: salvation reaches “unto the ends of the earth.” Interpretive levels should be related rather than flattened into one exclusive referent.

1 Nephi 21:7–13 — The covenant opens prisons and roads

The despised servant becomes the means of covenant restoration: prisoners go forth, hungry people are fed, and roads appear even on mountains. The journey imagery answers 1 Nephi 16–18. The same Lord who prepares one family’s physical way prepares a redemptive way for scattered Israel.

1 Nephi 21:14–16 — “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands”

“But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.”

Isaiah first invokes a nursing mother’s near-unforgettable attachment, then goes beyond it: even if she could forget, the Lord will not. Engraved palms make remembrance embodied and permanent. Christians naturally see the wounds of the resurrected Christ in this image; that is a devotional Christological reading strengthened by the Savior’s retained wounds in 3 Nephi 11:14–15 and Doctrine and Covenants 45:51–52.²⁰

For Lehi’s family on an isle, the message is exact: distance is not abandonment. For a modern disciple, feeling forgotten is real evidence of pain, but not final evidence about God’s memory.

1 Nephi 21:17–23 — Children return; nations help gather

Zion’s lost children return in numbers that astonish her. Kings become nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers—royal power redirected toward nurture. Nephi later interprets this as Gentile participation in restoring covenant knowledge and caring for scattered descendants.

1 Nephi 21:24–26 — The Mighty One contends for the captive

Isaiah asks whether prey can be taken from the mighty. The Lord answers that captives can be delivered because He Himself contends for Zion. Gathering is not merely demographic return; it reveals that the Lord is Savior, Redeemer, and Mighty One of Jacob.

1 Nephi 22

1 Nephi 22:1–5 — Temporal and spiritual

Nephi’s brothers ask whether Isaiah is spiritual or temporal. Nephi refuses the false choice: the prophecies concern things “both temporal and spiritual.” Scattering happens through unbelief and through real historical displacement; gathering includes turning to Christ and covenant developments among actual peoples.

This is a durable rule for prophecy: don’t force a symbol to be only metaphor, and don’t reduce a sacred pattern to geography alone.

1 Nephi 22:6–12 — Gentiles, Restoration, and the Abrahamic covenant

Nephi sees the Lord raising a mighty Gentile nation, bringing records to his descendants, and making known the covenants of the Father. He connects Isaiah’s nursing imagery to the restoration of covenant knowledge and explicitly quotes the Abrahamic promise: “In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.”

The gathering is not a story of Gentile superiority. The work is “of great worth” to both Gentiles and Israel because all need the same Messiah and covenant. See Covenants and Abrahamic Covenant.

1 Nephi 22:13–16 — Opposition consumes itself

Those who fight against the covenant work eventually turn against one another, and corrupt structures fall. Nephi’s imagery is sweeping and apocalyptic. It should produce allegiance to Christ and freedom from fear, not speculative timetables or permission to label present opponents as certain objects of destruction.

1 Nephi 22:17–22 — Preserved by His power; a prophet like Moses

“He will preserve the righteous by his power… Wherefore, the righteous need not fear.”

The repeated subject is God’s power. followHIM emphasizes that Nephi says righteous, not flawless: these are people who desire the right, repent when they fail, and do not treat themselves as their own saviors.²¹

Nephi then cites Moses’ promise of a prophet whom the people must hear, understood in Restoration scripture as Jesus Christ (compare Deuteronomy 18:15–19 and 3 Nephi 20:23). First Nephi’s exodus ends by directing readers beyond Nephi-the-Moses-figure to Christ, the greater Deliverer.

1 Nephi 22:23–26 — The fall of priestcraft and the reign of the Holy One

Churches built for gain, power, popularity, and domination will fall. The Holy One will reign; Satan will lose power “because of the righteousness of his people.” The chain that binds the adversary is therefore not only imposed from heaven—it is manifest in a people who refuse his works.

Come, Follow Me connection: Every quiet act of repentance, truth-telling, covenant fidelity, and Christlike service is anti-Babylon work.

1 Nephi 22:27–31 — Gathered safely through repentance

The Lord gathers His children from the four quarters of the earth, and “all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that they will repent.” Nephi closes by affirming the brass plates and the commandment to endure.

The week began with a family needing a direction through desert and ends with the whole human family invited into the safety of Christ. The title promise has expanded: the Lord prepares not only a trail, but repentance, scripture, covenant, and a Redeemer—the way home.

A Prepared-Way Pattern

Moment	What the Lord provides	What disciples provide	What is learned
Unknown route	Liahona and changing words	Faith, diligence, heed	Guidance is relational
Hunger	Direction and game	A handmade bow, one arrow, prophetic inquiry	Grace works through initiative
Ship command	Ore, instruction, power	Tools, prayer, labor	Revelation can be iterative
Storm	Chastening, compass, calm	Repentance, release, prayer	Rejected guidance can be recovered
Exile	Isaiah and covenant promise	Likening, remembering, hoping	Distance is not abandonment
Latter-day fear	Messiah’s power and gathering	Repentance and endurance	The righteous need not fear

Teaching Illustrations and Discussion Ideas

1. The flashlight and the floodlight

Turn off a room’s lights and use a flashlight. A floodlight would reveal the whole room; a flashlight gives enough light for the next steps. Ask: Which kind of light does the Liahona usually provide? Why might God value repeated trust more than advance certainty?

2. Find the fertile part of the wilderness

Draw a desert, then add one small oasis. Invite learners to name “fertile parts” God has provided inside, not necessarily outside, a difficult season: a person, sacrament meeting, scripture, therapy, medical care, meaningful work, a prompting, or needed rest. This follows the manual’s emphasis on small and simple guidance without pretending every wilderness is easy.²²

3. The broken-bow inventory

Make two columns: What broke and What can still be made. Nephi cannot repair the narrative by blaming; he can make a bow, make an arrow, and ask a faithful question. Let each learner identify one next action small enough to complete this week.

4. Two travel journals

Read 1 Nephi 17:1–3 beside 17:20–22. Have two readers write a six-line journal entry about the same difficult event—one honestly attentive to blessing, one dominated by grievance. Discuss: Which facts does each lens notice or omit? How can gratitude remain honest?

5. Shipbuilding without blueprints

Give a group materials for a simple structure but reveal one instruction at a time. Debrief frustration, dependence, collaboration, and the temptation to quit before the next instruction. Connect to “from time to time” rather than claiming all revelation arrives this way.

6. Engraved palms

Invite learners to hold open their hands while reading 1 Nephi 21:14–16 and 3 Nephi 11:14–15. Ask: What is the difference between being written on a list and engraved on a body? What does the risen Christ choose to remember?

7. Story, scripture, interpretation

Place three cards in order: 1 Nephi 16–18: experience, 1 Nephi 19–21: scripture, 1 Nephi 22: interpretation. Invite learners to practice the same pattern with one life experience: narrate it honestly, find a fitting scripture in context, then state a humble interpretation without claiming more revelation than they have received.

Questions for Personal Study and Teaching

What is my current “next faithful step” that I have delayed because I want the whole map?
Which small means—scripture, counsel, routine, person, prompting—has repeatedly led me toward more fertile ground?
Where am I waiting for the Lord to make a bow I can begin making?
How did Nephi honor Lehi without pretending Lehi had not murmured?
What is the difference between lament, which tells God the truth about pain, and murmuring, which closes the case against Him?
Am I approaching a covenant as a relationship of trust or a transaction for specific outcomes?
What does “after the manner which the Lord had shown” suggest about combining revelation and expertise?
What practices increase spiritual feeling rather than demanding louder manifestations?
Why does Nephi place Isaiah after the sea voyage instead of ending at the promised land?
How does Isaiah’s nursing mother image change the meaning of “the Lord remembers”?
What temporal and spiritual dimensions of gathering can I see in 1 Nephi 22?
How does “preserved by his power” protect us from both fear and self-righteousness?
What would it mean for me this week to be righteous in the sense of actively repenting?
Which “isle” makes someone near me feel cut off, and how could I participate in Christ’s gathering?

Gospel Library Scripture Links

Assigned reading

Essential parallels

← Previous: 1 Nephi 11–15 | Next: 2 Nephi 1–2 →

Annotated Source Guide

Official and scriptural sources

Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024, January 29–February 4. The official lesson establishes the quoted title and emphasizes small and simple guidance, faithful perspective in trials, family influence, and the Lord’s help with difficult tasks.¹
1 Nephi 16–22; Exodus; Isaiah 48–49; Alma 37. Primary texts. Scripture supplies the guide’s narrative, doctrine, and most applications; external sources are used to clarify context or model possible readings.

BYU Studies and scholarship

BYU Studies Come, Follow Me index, lesson 5. The lesson-specific inventory was checked first. It links resources on Nahom, bows, exodus typology, Isaiah, and the literary unity of 1–2 Nephi.²³
Warren P. Aston, “A History of NaHoM.” Useful archaeological and onomastic context; treated as cumulative scholarship, not proof or official Church teaching.⁶
John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch; S. Kent Brown; Noel Reynolds. Distinct scholarly treatments of Exodus and Moses patterns in the Book of Mormon.⁴
S. Kent Brown, “What Is Isaiah Doing in First Nephi?” Helps explain Isaiah as covenant hope for a displaced family rather than a detached quotation block.⁷

2024 and local series sources

followHIM, episode 5, Dr. Tyler Griffin (2024). The local proofread show-notes PDF and companion text support the gradual-guidance, covenant-versus-transaction, contrasting-wilderness, Isaiah, engraved-palms, and repentant-righteousness discussions.²⁴
Unshaken, 1 Nephi 16–22, parts 1–2. Local transcripts contribute the Exodus framework, the Liahona’s faith/diligence/heed pattern, Christ’s long-suffering, and the islands-as-scattering teaching metaphor.⁵
Don’t Miss This, 1 Nephi 16–22. The local transcript contributes the “fertile parts of the wilderness” image and the warning not to mistake God’s instrument for God.¹⁰
Gospel Talktrine, S03E05. Audited as a matching local transcript; it contributes nomadic context, the Exodus framing, the broken-bow response, Bountiful, and Isaiah discussion. Its speculative suggestions (for example, about Nephi’s trade or unrecorded Liahona writing) were not presented as fact.²⁵

Local collection audit

A full-vault search found no preexisting substantial guide or exact-title Inbox placeholder for this unit. Matching local items were found in followHIM 2024 PDFs, Unshaken Book of Mormon, Don’t Miss This Book of Mormon, and Gospel Talktrine Book of Mormon. The BYU Studies lesson index and official manual were checked, and two scholarly website source notes were retained locally. No separate matching Scripture Central transcript was found in the local Sources/Series/Scripture Central/ collection during this run; the followHIM reference list does identify external Scripture Central videos, but no unsupported contribution was attributed to them.

Footnotes

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “January 29–February 4: ‘I Will Prepare the Way before You.’ 1 Nephi 16–22,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024, official curriculum, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-home-and-church-book-of-mormon-2024/05?lang=eng. ↩ ↩²
Ibid., opening context. The manual explains that the promise did not make the journey easy: family members disagreed, bows broke, people suffered and died, and a ship still had to be built from raw materials. Official curriculum. ↩
Tyler Griffin with Hank Smith and John Bytheway, “1 Nephi 16–22,” followHIM episode 5 (2024), devotional teaching in local extracted show notes, PDF pages 11–12; original PDF: BM-05-Dr.-Tyler-Griffin-1-Nephi-16-22-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.pdf. ↩
John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch, “Chart 94: 1 Nephi and the Exodus,” Charting the Book of Mormon (1999), https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/charting-the-book-of-mormon/chart-94-1-nephi-and-the-exodus; S. Kent Brown, “The Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 30, no. 3 (1990), https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/3769; Noel B. Reynolds, “The Israelite Background of Moses Typology in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 44, no. 2 (2005), https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-israelite-background-of-moses-typology-in-the-book-of-mormon/. Historical-literary scholarship. ↩ ↩²
Jared Halverson, “Come Follow Me—1 Nephi 16–22 (part 1)—Journey to the Promised Land,” Unshaken, local transcript, Come Follow Me - 1 Nephi 16-22 (part 1) - Journey to the Promised Land. Devotional interpretation, especially the Genesis/Exodus framing and Liahona discussion. ↩ ↩²
Warren P. Aston, “A History of NaHoM,” BYU Studies Quarterly 51, no. 2 (2012): 78–98, https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-nahom; retained source note: A History of NaHoM — Warren P. Aston. Historical and archaeological scholarship, not official Church teaching. ↩ ↩²
S. Kent Brown, “What Is Isaiah Doing in First Nephi? Or, How Did Lehi’s Family Fare So Far from Home?” in From Jerusalem to Zarahemla: Literary and Historical Studies of the Book of Mormon (Religious Studies Center, 1998), 9–27, https://rsc.byu.edu/jerusalem-zarahemla/what-isaiah-doing-first-nephi-how-did-lehis-family-fare-so-far-home; retained source note: What Is Isaiah Doing in First Nephi — S. Kent Brown. Historical-literary scholarship. ↩ ↩²
Griffin, followHIM episode 5 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 14–15. Devotional application of incremental revelation. ↩
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, official manual page cited in note 1, section “God guides me through small and simple means.” ↩
David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman, “Come Follow Me 1 Nephi 16–22 (Jan 27–Feb 2),” Don’t Miss This, Come Follow Me 1 Nephi 16-22 (Jan 27-Feb 2), especially transcript lines 112–175. Devotional interpretation; this local episode follows an earlier calendar alignment and is not represented as the official 2024 manual. ↩ ↩²
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, official manual page cited in note 1, section “I can be a good example to my family.” ↩
Griffin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 5 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 23–26. Devotional discussion contrasting covenantal and transactional approaches and 1 Nephi 17:1–3 with 17:20–22. ↩
Griffin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 5 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 11–12. Their family application is devotional; the proposed identity of Nephi’s wife is explicitly treated there as conjecture and is not asserted in this guide. ↩
Griffin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 5 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 14–15; compare Alma 37:38–40. The observation that the name Liahona first appears later is textual. ↩
Ibid., episode timecode 36:13 and local extracted show notes PDF page 23. Devotional teaching image based on 1 Nephi 16:23. ↩
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, official manual page cited in note 1, section “My trials can be a blessing.” ↩
Jared Halverson, “Come Follow Me—1 Nephi 16–22 (part 2)—Likening Isaiah, Gathering Israel,” Unshaken, Come Follow Me - 1 Nephi 16-22 (part 2) - Likening Isaiah, Gathering Israel, transcript lines 41–99. Devotional interpretation of 1 Nephi 19:7–9. ↩
Ibid., transcript lines 118–180. Devotional island/scattering metaphor; not a claim about the exact location of Lehi’s landing. ↩
Griffin, followHIM episode 5 part 2 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 43–45. Devotional literary overview of Isaiah 1–39 and 40–66. ↩
John Bytheway and Tyler Griffin, followHIM episode 5 part 2 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 45–46. The connection between engraved palms and Christ’s wounds is devotional Christological interpretation; 3 Nephi 11 and Doctrine and Covenants 45 independently testify that the risen Christ retains identifiable wounds. ↩
Griffin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 5 part 2 (2024), local extracted show notes, PDF pages 50–53. Devotional interpretation of “righteous” as repentant rather than flawless, grounded in 1 Nephi 22’s repeated wording. ↩
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, official manual page cited in note 1; Butler and Freeman, Don’t Miss This local transcript, lines 159–178. Official prompt combined with a devotional teaching image. ↩
BYU Studies, “Explore resources for studying the Come, Follow Me lesson—‘I Will Prepare the Way before You,’” lesson 5 index, https://byustudies.byu.edu/come-follow-me/book-of-mormon/5. Curated scholarly index; its linked resources represent their respective authors, not official Church positions. ↩
Tyler Griffin with Hank Smith and John Bytheway, “1 Nephi 16–22,” followHIM Podcast episode 5 (2024), proofread show-notes PDF BM-05-Dr.-Tyler-Griffin-1-Nephi-16-22-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.pdf and extracted companion BM-05-Dr.-Tyler-Griffin-1-Nephi-16-22-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.md. Devotional educational podcast, not official curriculum. ↩
Mark Holt, “1 Nephi 16–22—S03E05,” Gospel Talktrine, S03E05 - 1 Nephi 16-22. Local transcript; devotional and historical commentary with conjectures clearly identified by the speaker. ↩

tags	scripture-study, book-of-mormon, 1-nephi, liahona, revelation, exodus, isaiah, covenant, gathering-israel, come-follow-me/2024
aliases	I Will Prepare the Way before You, January 29–February 4 — I Will Prepare the Way before You, 1 Nephi 16–22, 1 Nephi 16-22, Come Follow Me January 29–February 4 2024, Come Follow Me 1 Nephi 16–22, January 29–February 4 1 Nephi 16–22

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1 Nephi 16–22 — I Will Prepare the Way before You