2 Nephi 3–5 — “We Lived after the Manner of Happiness.”

Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024 — February 12–18
Official unit: 2 Nephi 3–5
Official quoted lesson title: “We Lived after the Manner of Happiness.”¹

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Opening Thesis: Happiness Is Built from Remembered Covenants

These chapters move through three different scales of covenant life:

2 Nephi 3 looks across generations. Lehi tells his wilderness-born son Joseph that their dislocation belongs to a covenant story reaching backward to Joseph in Egypt and forward to Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and Israel’s latter-day restoration.
2 Nephi 4 looks inside one grieving soul. After Lehi dies and the family fracture becomes unavoidable, Nephi does not hide his sorrow, sin, anger, or weakness. He remembers what God has already done, commands his soul to awake, and turns lament into trust.
2 Nephi 5 looks outward at a new society. Nephi receives permission to flee lethal violence. His people carry scripture, revelation, skilled labor, covenant worship, and the temple into a new home. Their happiness is not ease; it is a manner—a practiced way of living with God amid grief, danger, work, and unfinished family pain.

The official manual refuses a shallow reading. It notes that Nephi feels “wretched” and “easily beset,” and that his people’s happiness does not arrive “easily or without periods of sorrow.” It concludes, “It ultimately comes from trusting the Lord, ‘the rock of [our] righteousness.’”¹ That sentence joins all three chapters: covenant memory gives suffering a larger horizon, prayer gives sorrow a way to speak, and covenant practice gives hope a place to live.

What to Watch for While Reading

The repeated word covenant in chapter 3; Joseph Smith is important because of the work God gives him within a much larger covenant plan.
Four people named Joseph: Joseph in Egypt, Lehi’s son Joseph, Joseph Smith Sr., and Joseph Smith Jr.
What the two records—Judah’s record and Joseph’s record—are supposed to do: expose false doctrine, reduce contention, establish peace, restore ancestral knowledge, and teach covenants.
The shift in 2 Nephi 4 from Lehi’s public blessings to Nephi’s private “things of my soul.”
Nephi’s emotional verbs: delight, grieve, groan, weep, linger, droop, rejoice, praise, trust.
Each “nevertheless” as a hinge. Nephi does not deny the darkness; he turns within it toward a known God.
The relationship between memory and hope: Nephi names past deliverances before asking for future help.
The command “Awake, my soul” as Nephi’s inward echo of Lehi’s earlier “Awake, my sons.”
The Lord’s warning to flee in chapter 5. Forgiveness does not require remaining available for murder or abuse.
The material pattern of happiness: revelation, scripture, home, identity, commandments, work, food, safety, temple, ministry, record keeping, and God’s presence.
The distinction the official manual makes between the curse (being cut off from the Lord’s presence) and the mark (whose nature and appearance are not fully understood).²
How quickly “Nephite” and “Lamanite” become identity labels—and how the rest of the Book of Mormon will repeatedly overturn any simplistic equation of one group with righteousness and the other with wickedness.

The Three Chapters at a Glance

Chapter	Crisis	Covenant resource	Central movement	Teaching image
2 Nephi 3	A child born in sorrow needs to know why his family has been scattered	Promises to Joseph in Egypt; a choice seer; two records growing together	From isolated hardship to a long covenant horizon	Four Joseph name cards connected by one covenant thread
2 Nephi 4	Lehi dies; brothers rage; Nephi grieves his sins, enemies, and apparent failure	Scripture, remembered mercy, broken-heart prayer, trust in God	From delight to lament, remembrance, self-exhortation, petition, and praise	A path out of the “valley of sorrow” without pretending the valley is unreal
2 Nephi 5	Murderous division makes shared life unsafe	Revelation to flee; commandments; records; Liahona; labor; temple; ministry	From family household to two peoples with rival identities	A new settlement organized around a temple rather than around resentment

Historical and Literary Context

The end of Lehi’s farewell

Chapters 3–4 complete the farewell that began in 2 Nephi 1. Lehi is not offering disconnected inspirational sayings. He is trying to transmit land, leadership, covenant memory, family obligations, and hope before he dies. John W. Welch’s legal-historical reading of 2 Nephi 1–4 as a form of last will and testament is not provable in every detail, but it usefully restores the public weight of the scene.³ Lehi’s words concern the future order of a whole people.

Chapter 3 therefore speaks to little Joseph personally while placing him inside a story much older and longer than himself. Chapter 4 finishes blessings to Laman’s children, Lemuel’s children, Ishmael’s sons, Sam, and Sam’s descendants. Then Lehi dies. “Not many days” later, the older brothers’ anger returns and escalates. The timing makes the Psalm of Nephi more than an abstract devotional poem: it stands between a father’s grave and a family’s permanent division.

Four Josephs, one work

Jared Halverson calls attention to the chain of Josephs in 2 Nephi 3.⁴

Joseph	Historical place	Role in the chapter
Joseph in Egypt	Patriarch, son of Jacob/Israel	Receives promises about his descendants, Moses, a latter-day seer, and preserved records
Joseph, son of Lehi	Child born during the wilderness afflictions	Receives his father’s blessing and learns that his family is the preserved branch foreseen anciently
Joseph Smith Sr.	Father of the latter-day seer	Fulfills the naming detail: the seer’s name will be “after the name of his father”
Joseph Smith Jr.	Latter-day “choice seer”	Brings forth a record of Joseph’s descendants and serves God’s work of restoration

The repeated name is memorable, but Dr. Jan Martin points to the deeper repeated word: covenant. Joseph Smith is not the picture’s center in place of Christ; he is a commissioned participant in God’s long work to remember Israel and bless all families.⁵

The Psalm of Nephi

Readers commonly call 2 Nephi 4:16–35 the Psalm of Nephi. Kenneth Alford and D. Bryce Baker cautiously propose that Psalms 25–31 may have supplied Nephi with a concentrated scriptural vocabulary for grief, enemies, mercy, paths, deliverance, rejoicing, trust, and God as rock.⁶ The proposal is literary scholarship, not proof of direct copying. Its strength is cumulative: “my heart,” “my soul,” remembered goodness, sorrow over iniquity, prayer for deliverance, a plain path, and enduring trust all cluster in both bodies of text.

Patrick Mason adds a modern reception insight. The passage became increasingly beloved as readers learned to value Nephi not only as an icon of obedience but as a human being who reveals grief, inadequacy, anger, and need.⁷ This does not authorize us to diagnose Nephi from a distance. It does invite us to stop treating spiritual maturity as emotional invulnerability.

2 Nephi 3: A Covenant Longer Than One Lifetime

Sorrow is acknowledged, then given a horizon

Lehi begins: “Thou wast born in the wilderness of mine afflictions; yea, in the days of my greatest sorrow did thy mother bear thee” (2 Nephi 3:1). He does not hide hardship from Joseph. Nor does he conclude that suffering means God has abandoned the family. Instead, he connects Joseph’s life to the ancestor Joseph, “whose captives the Lord brought down into the land of Egypt.”

The pattern matters pastorally. Lehi does not say, “Your childhood was not hard.” He says, in effect, “Your hard childhood belongs to a promise-bearing story.” followHIM emphasizes that adversity is not automatic evidence of punishment; the branch was scattered in order to be preserved.⁵ Purpose does not make every pain good, but it can keep pain from becoming the whole interpretation of a life.

The choice seer’s assigned work

Joseph of Egypt’s prophecy describes a seer who will be “esteemed highly,” but the chapter spends more words on the work than on celebrity (2 Nephi 3:6–15). The Lord defines the assignment:

bring Joseph’s descendants to knowledge of covenants;
do only the work God commands;
bring forth God’s word rather than rule by the sword;
join Joseph’s record with Judah’s record;
confound false doctrines;
lay down contentions;
establish peace;
restore knowledge of ancestors and covenants;
be made strong “out of weakness.”

This is a searching way to study Joseph Smith. Rather than asking only whether a dramatic prophecy names him, ask whether the Restoration directs people toward Jesus Christ, scripture, covenant, repentance, gathering, and peace. The official manual’s question is appropriately personal: How has Joseph Smith’s work been “of great worth” to you?¹

Two records that grow together

2 Nephi 3:12 does not picture the Bible and Book of Mormon competing for shelf space. Judah’s writing and Joseph’s writing “shall grow together.” Halverson describes them as companion witnesses whose joined purpose is to bless the whole house of Israel.⁴ The image is organic: roots, branches, and records become part of one living covenant testimony.

A helpful diagnostic follows from the verse’s own promised fruits. If scripture study merely supplies ammunition for contention, we have not yet received the records in the manner the prophecy describes. The aim is truth strong enough to expose error and charity strong enough to establish peace.

Weak words and divine strength

The prophecy refuses polished-human-performance as the source of scriptural power. The seer is made strong “out of weakness” (verse 13), and the descendants’ written words will be made strong because of their faith (verses 19–21). This anticipates Moroni’s later concern over weakness in writing and the Lord’s answer that grace can make weak things strong (Ether 12:23–27).

The doctrine is not that every weak statement is automatically inspired. It is that God can entrust saving work to limited people and use simple testimony to carry more power than literary prestige alone can produce.

2 Nephi 4: The Soul That Refuses to Hide

Scripture engraved twice

Nephi says, “Upon these I write the things of my soul,” then immediately adds that his soul delights in scripture and his heart continually ponders what he has seen and heard (2 Nephi 4:15–16). Halverson observes the double engraving: sacred words are cut into metal, but they are also written into the “fleshy tables” of a heart that delights and ponders.⁸

This is more than consuming religious information. Nephi reads, remembers, writes, and leaves learning for his children. Scripture becomes durable when it passes from page to soul to testimony to posterity.

“O wretched man that I am” is confession, not identity

Nephi does not say that God is wretched or that covenant life has failed. He names the contradiction inside himself: he has seen God’s great goodness and still feels beset by sin. His heart groans when he wants it to rejoice.

The line is dangerous if isolated. It can become fuel for perfectionism or self-contempt. In the complete psalm, however, confession moves almost immediately to “Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted” (2 Nephi 4:19). Nephi’s weakness is real, but it is not the most final truth about him. The known character of God is.

Adam Miller’s Letters to a Young Mormon makes a useful corrective to romanticizing Nephite happiness: even a community living “after the manner of happiness” would still contain ordinary stubbornness, weakness, and vanity; Nephi himself says so.⁹ Happiness is not a population of flawless people. It is a people repeatedly turning weakness toward grace, truth, worship, and work.

The anatomy of Nephi’s prayer

The psalm can be mapped as a movement rather than reduced to one favorite line:

Movement	Verses	What Nephi does
Delight	15–16	Writes the soul; delights in and ponders scripture
Lament	17–19a	Names sin, temptation, grief, and groaning
Covenant pivot	19b	“Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted”
Historical remembrance	20–25	Rehearses support, wilderness guidance, preservation, divine love, answered prayer, visions, angels, and the Spirit
Honest questions	26–27	Asks why sorrow, weakness, temptation, and anger continue
Self-exhortation	28–30	Commands soul and heart to awake, rejoice, refuse anger, praise, and return to the Rock
Petition	31–33	Asks for redemption, deliverance, holy aversion to sin, open gates of righteousness, a plain path, Christ’s robe, and escape
Final trust	34–35	Rejects the arm of flesh and commits to trust God forever

Dr. Martin reads this as analogous to an ancient treaty pattern: parties are identified, past benevolence is rehearsed, obligations are renewed, and blessing/cursing language closes the covenant.¹⁰ That structural reading is interpretive; readers need not master the term suzerainty to follow Nephi’s spiritual practice. The practical sequence is clear: tell the truth, remember God’s acts, name your next faithful response, ask covenant help, and place the future in God.

Grief is not unbelief

Lehi’s death removes Nephi’s father and closest prophetic ally. The brothers’ renewed rage makes the hoped-for family unity impossible. followHIM’s discussion carefully recognizes more than one kind of grief: grief for a loving relationship lost through death, grief for a relationship that never became safe or close, and grief over siblings whose choices divide a family.¹¹

Nephi’s psalm does not prove that grief should end quickly if faith is sufficient. Nor should “Awake, my soul” be weaponized against depression, trauma, or illness. Faithful people may need time, professional care, medication, safety, sleep, nutrition, community, and repeated prayer. The text’s witness is narrower and stronger: sorrow may speak honestly to God, and sorrow need not become the soul’s only voice.

Anger and enemies

Nephi asks, “Why am I angry because of mine enemy?” and commands, “Do not anger again because of mine enemies” (verses 27, 29). Mason reads this in the immediate family setting: Nephi’s enemies are not abstractions but brothers who have repeatedly threatened his life.⁷ Mark Holt similarly interprets the prayer as Nephi refusing to let his brothers’ hatred determine his own moral response.¹²

That is not victim-blaming. Nephi is not responsible for their violence, and chapter 5 will show that faithful response includes escape. He is responsible for what hatred is allowed to build inside him. The pairing is essential: a boundary can stop an enemy from entering your home; grace can stop the enemy’s hatred from becoming the ruler of your heart.

2 Nephi 5: Building a Place for Covenant Life

The Lord sometimes answers by saying “flee”

Nephi keeps praying as the brothers’ anger increases. Then “the Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness” (2 Nephi 5:1–5). The word is not argue better, endure one more attempted murder, or prove forgiveness by staying accessible. It is flee.

Dr. Martin calls the separation a healthy boundary in a life-threatening relationship.¹³ Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has likewise taught that forgiveness does not require reentering “a toxic relationship” or returning to “an abusive, destructive circumstance.”¹⁴ The text does not supply a universal rule for every strained relationship; it does establish that distance can be a righteous, revealed response when safety is at stake.

Who leaves, and why

Nephi takes his family, Zoram and his family, Sam and his family, Jacob, Joseph, his sisters, and “all those who would go with me.” He defines this last group not as admirers of his personality but as those who “believed in the warnings and the revelations of God” (verse 6). Halverson emphasizes that their choice ultimately concerns their belief in a God who reveals and warns.¹⁵

The migration still costs real relationships. Nieces, nephews, spouses, cousins, and long-shared memories may have fallen on either side. “They journeyed in the wilderness for the space of many days” compresses fear, labor, grief, and logistical difficulty into one sentence.

The architecture of “the manner of happiness”

Nephi’s summary in verse 27 comes after a concrete inventory. Halverson and Holt both read those details as the chapter’s answer to what kind of manner produces durable happiness?¹⁶

Textual detail	Covenant contribution	Caution against distortion
Warnings and revelations believed (v. 6)	Trust that God can direct real decisions	Prophetic following is not a cult of personality or an excuse to ignore personal revelation and moral responsibility
A place named and tents pitched (vv. 7–8)	Home, stability, and belonging after displacement	Home is not happiness if maintained by violence or domination
A covenant identity (v. 9)	A shared story and responsibility	Group identity must never become ethnic superiority
Commandments and law of Moses (v. 10)	Worship ordered by revealed covenant	Rule keeping without Christ can become brittle performance
The Lord with them and crops multiplying (v. 11)	Divine presence, food, stewardship, and gratitude	Prosperity does not guarantee luxury or absence of suffering
Records and Liahona (v. 12)	Remembered revelation and ongoing direction	Possessing scripture is not the same as hearkening to it
Swords patterned after Laban’s sword (vv. 13–14)	Preparedness and communal safety	Defense can become aggression if fear or hatred takes command
Building, working metals, wood, and fields (v. 15)	Skill, creation, provision, and shared purpose	Work is not a cure-all, and a person’s worth is not measured by productivity
A temple with exceedingly fine workmanship (v. 16)	Sacred center, covenant worship, sacrifice, and God’s presence	The temple is not spiritual decoration; it should reorder the community toward holiness and neighbor-love
Labor with their hands (v. 17)	Participation rather than idleness	Industry must not excuse exploitation or contempt for the poor, sick, disabled, or exhausted
Nephi refuses kingship but accepts needed leadership (v. 18)	Service over status	Later Nephite kingship shows the community still has much to learn
Priests and teachers consecrated (v. 26)	Teaching and ministry throughout the community	Sacred office is stewardship, not proof of superiority
A record commanded and preserved (vv. 28–33)	Future generations can learn God’s dealings	A record is selective; Nephi himself distinguishes ministry from fuller political history

The pattern links naturally to Ben’s existing After the manner of happiness note and temple note: happiness is received indirectly while building a Christ-centered life of covenant, worship, contribution, relationship, safety, and remembrance.

A temple made from the best available materials

Nephi cannot reproduce Solomon’s wealth. He can reproduce the temple’s manner, and “the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine” (2 Nephi 5:16). Halverson’s teaching image is generous: they lacked imported cedar and royal gold, but they gave God the best material they actually had.¹⁶

That becomes a vivid discipleship metaphor. God does not ask a refugee settlement to pretend it has Jerusalem’s resources. He asks for covenant pattern and consecrated workmanship. A life patterned after Christ may be built with constrained time, ordinary gifts, imperfect health, and limited means—and still become “exceedingly fine” through faithful offering.

The curse, the mark, and the limits of what we know

2 Nephi 5:20–25 must be taught slowly and without racial speculation.

What the official Church manual says clearly:

“The curse of the Lamanites was that they were ‘cut off from [the Lord’s] presence … because of their iniquity.’”
This meant that the Spirit of the Lord was withdrawn from their lives.
When later Lamanites embraced the gospel, “the curse of God did no more follow them” (Alma 23:18).
The text also describes “a mark of dark skin,” but “the nature and appearance of this mark are not fully understood.”
Dark skin is not a sign of divine disfavor or cursing; standing before God depends on devotion, not skin color.
Nephi himself later teaches that Christ “denieth none” and that “all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33).²

The guide therefore will not declare a speculative explanation to be settled. Scholars have proposed literal pigmentation, metaphorical light/dark language, garments or animal skins, paint, tattooing, and ancient covenant-death imagery. Jan Martin and the followHIM discussion survey several of these possibilities but repeatedly advise teachers to present them as possibilities, not certainty.¹⁷ T. J. Uriona’s article surfaced by the BYU Studies index proposes ancient Near Eastern “life and death, blessing and cursing” context for “skin of blackness”; that is a scholarly reading, not an official resolution.¹⁸

The safest textual distinctions are these:

The curse is defined before the disputed phrase: they are cut off from the Lord’s presence because they refuse to hearken (verse 20).
The mark is not a moral property of a modern race. The manual explicitly rejects that use.
Repentance changes covenant status. The Lamanites are never outside Christ’s invitation.
Nephite and Lamanite are not permanent moral categories. Later Lamanites become more righteous than Nephites; Christ appears to the righteous rather than to one favored ethnicity.
The narrator is a real participant in a painful conflict. Inspired scripture can preserve language we must read within the whole book’s expanding witness that all are alike unto God.
No teacher should repeat the abandoned claim that dark skin is either a curse or a sign of a curse. The Church disavows theories that black skin signals divine disfavor and unequivocally condemns racism.¹⁹

Happiness after rupture

Verse 27 does not erase verses 1–6. The Nephites live after the manner of happiness after fleeing murder, burying Lehi, losing family relationships, and preparing for conflict. Nor does it erase verse 34: within forty years, wars and contentions have already begun.

That makes the title more credible, not less. Happiness here is neither constant pleasant feeling nor evidence that every consequence has disappeared. It is a covenantal orientation maintained amid an unfinished world. The people do not wait for sorrow to vanish before they worship, plant, build, teach, protect, record, and remember God.

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

2 Nephi 3

2 Nephi 3:1–4 — A child of sorrow blessed in a promised land

“In the days of my greatest sorrow did thy mother bear thee.”

Lehi names Joseph’s difficult origin and immediately blesses the land for his sake. Joseph’s identity is not “the child who caused sorrow” but a son received in sorrow and included in covenant promise. Verse 4 links him to Joseph in Egypt, whose own descent into captivity became part of God’s preserving work.

Come, Follow Me connection: When telling a child a hard family history, tell the pain truthfully—but also tell the covenant, mercy, courage, and belonging that keep pain from becoming the child’s identity.

2 Nephi 3:5 — A righteous branch remembered

“A branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord.”

The branch is scattered but not forgotten. The Messiah will be made manifest to Joseph’s descendants in latter days “unto the restoring them.” Scattering is real loss; divine remembrance means loss is not the final covenant word.

Restoration parallel: Genesis 49:22–26 blesses Joseph as a fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall.

2 Nephi 3:6–8 — A choice seer commissioned for great worth

“A seer shall the Lord my God raise up.”

The seer is “choice” because the Lord chooses and commissions him. His work is “of great worth” to Joseph’s descendants because it restores knowledge of covenants. The chapter’s test of prophetic significance is covenant fruit, not celebrity.

Come, Follow Me connection: List what you know of the Father, Jesus Christ, scripture, priesthood ordinances, sealing, and gathering because of the Restoration. Which gift has become personally “of great worth” rather than merely historically interesting?

2 Nephi 3:9–11 — Like Moses, yet assigned a different instrument

“He shall be great like unto Moses.”

The comparison concerns divine commission and deliverance, not identical biography. Moses uses power to lead Israel from political bondage; the latter-day seer is told not to bring forth God’s word by the sword. Revelation, record, and covenant testimony are his assigned instruments.

Restoration parallel: Moses 1:25–26 records Moses’ commission to deliver Israel; Doctrine and Covenants 5:10 speaks of Joseph Smith’s gift to translate the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 3:12 — Judah and Joseph grow together

“Shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions.”

The two records are complementary covenant witnesses. Their unity serves doctrinal clarity, peace, ancestral remembrance, and covenant knowledge. Ezekiel 37:15–28 supplies a Restoration parallel in the joined sticks of Judah and Joseph/Ephraim.

Come, Follow Me connection: Read one Bible passage and one Book of Mormon passage about the same doctrine. What does each make clearer in the other? Does the paired reading make you more peaceful as well as more certain?

2 Nephi 3:13–15 — Strength out of weakness and a name remembered

“Out of weakness he shall be made strong.”

God’s strength does not require pretending Joseph Smith had no limitations. Grace works through a mortal instrument. The naming detail—Joseph after his father—makes the prophecy intimate and memorable, but the purpose remains Israel’s restoration.

Restoration parallel: Joseph Smith—History 1:28–33 candidly records Joseph’s youthful weakness before Moroni’s commission.

2 Nephi 3:16–21 — Moses, Aaron, hidden writing, and a voice from the dust

“Their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words.”

Joseph of Egypt expresses certainty about Moses and the latter-day seer. As Aaron speaks for Moses, a divinely provided spokesman will assist the seer. The descendants’ words, preserved though they perish, will speak “out of the dust.” Their faith—not rhetorical polish—allows weak writing to become strong.

The official manual points readers to Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 50:24–38, which preserves a closely related Joseph prophecy.¹

Come, Follow Me connection: Do not wait for perfect eloquence before recording a testimony. Simplicity joined to faith may serve descendants you cannot yet see.

2 Nephi 3:22–25 — Joseph’s seed will hear the book

“Because of this covenant thou art blessed.”

Lehi returns from quotation to direct blessing. Joseph’s descendants will not be utterly destroyed; they will eventually hearken to the book. A mighty descendant will do good in word and deed and serve restoration. Covenant promise reaches beyond the lifespan of every person in the scene.

Come, Follow Me connection: What faithful work are you willing to begin even if its fullest blessing may belong to later generations?

2 Nephi 4

2 Nephi 4:1–7 — Agency, teaching, and a blessing on Laman’s children

“If ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.”

Lehi speaks to children whose parents may train them in destructive traditions. His blessing places accountability for failed teaching on the preceding generation rather than condemning children for inherited conditions. It does not erase agency; it affirms that God judges with complete knowledge of formation, opportunity, and light received.

Come, Follow Me connection: Break a harmful inheritance without despising the people from whom it came. Christ can distinguish responsibility, wound, ignorance, and deliberate choice more justly than we can.

2 Nephi 4:8–12 — Lemuel’s children, Ishmael’s household, and Sam

“Thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother Nephi.”

Lehi continues blessing family groups. Sam’s posterity is joined with Nephi’s, and Sam is told that his days will be spent in God’s service. The quieter brother is not forgotten because scripture tells fewer stories about him.

Come, Follow Me connection: Public visibility and covenant faithfulness are not the same thing. Who serves steadily in your family or ward without becoming the story’s central character?

2 Nephi 4:13–14 — Lehi dies; anger returns

“Not many days after his death, Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael were angry with me.”

The family’s fragile restraint ends with Lehi’s death. Nephi’s message comes “according to” the Lord’s word, but divine origin does not guarantee willing reception. The split anticipated for years now becomes imminent.

Come, Follow Me connection: A dying parent’s hope cannot substitute for each child’s conversion. Honor the hope, but do not take responsibility for choices that another person repeatedly and knowingly makes.

2 Nephi 4:15–16 — The things of the soul

“My soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them.”

Nephi joins scripture study, personal revelation, writing, and intergenerational teaching. The verses invite a durable practice: read until a phrase becomes worth pondering; ponder until it becomes prayer; write until it can bless a child.

Teaching practice: Create a page titled “The Things of My Soul.” Record one scripture, one remembered mercy, one honest grief, and one trust statement.

2 Nephi 4:17–19 — Wretchedness and the first “nevertheless”

“When I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.”

The poem holds great goodness and personal weakness in one frame. “Nevertheless” does not cancel repentance. It prevents repentance from collapsing into hopeless self-definition. Nephi’s confidence rests in whom he trusts, not in the fantasy that he will never struggle again.

Come, Follow Me connection: Complete both sentences without weakening either: “The truth I need to confess is … Nevertheless, the truth I know about Christ is …”

2 Nephi 4:20–25 — A personal history of mercy

“My God hath been my support.”

Nephi remembers wilderness guidance, preservation at sea, consuming divine love, confounded enemies, prayer, visions, angels, and the Spirit. Many items can be matched to episodes in 1 Nephi. Memory becomes evidence for present trust.

Alford and Baker compare this movement with Psalms 25–31, where God is strength, shield, rock, and hearer of supplication.⁶

Come, Follow Me connection: Build a “historical prologue” of your own covenant life: When has God supported, led, preserved, filled, heard, taught, or carried you?

2 Nephi 4:26–30 — Questions, anger, and an awakened soul

“Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.”

Nephi questions why his soul lingers in sorrow, why he yields to temptation, and why anger has place. He then speaks to his own soul: awake, rejoice, give the enemy no place, do not surrender strength because of affliction. This is not denial; it is an attempt to choose a voice within a chorus of real emotions.

Come, Follow Me connection: Write a brief self-exhortation that is truthful enough to believe and hopeful enough to practice: “Awake, my soul. With Christ’s help, today I can …”

2 Nephi 4:31–33 — Redemption, a plain road, a robe, and escape

“Encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!”

Nephi asks for both inward and outward deliverance: redemption from sin, holy aversion to sin, gates of righteousness, a low and plain path, Christ’s protective righteousness, and a way to escape enemies. He does not ask merely to feel better. He asks to become holy and safe.

The image reverses verse 18. He had been “encompassed about” by temptations; now he asks to be encircled by God’s righteousness. The Atonement changes not only the destination but what surrounds and identifies the repentant soul.

2 Nephi 4:34–35 — Trust forever

“O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.”

Nephi rejects the arm of flesh and trusts a God who gives liberally when asked rightly. The final repeated “my”—my God, my righteousness, my rock—turns general doctrine into personal testimony.

Come, Follow Me connection: Change one true general statement into covenant witness: not only “God answers prayer,” but “My God has heard me when …”

2 Nephi 5

2 Nephi 5:1–4 — Prayer amid increasing danger

“I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord my God, because of the anger of my brethren.”

Prayer does not immediately lower the danger. The brothers interpret Nephi’s words as affliction and his calling as usurpation, then plan murder. Their grievance narrative makes violence feel justified.

Come, Follow Me connection: A delayed answer is not necessarily an absent God. Continue praying, seek wise help, and take threats seriously while awaiting the next safe action.

2 Nephi 5:5–9 — Revealed flight and a new home

“The Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness.”

The faithful group leaves because revelation identifies continued proximity as unsafe. Those who go believe God’s warnings. They carry tents, travel many days, settle, and name the place Nephi. A home begins with a boundary and becomes a site of new covenant responsibility.

Come, Follow Me connection: Forgiveness releases vengeance to God; a boundary changes access. Do not confuse reconciliation, which requires truth and safety from both parties, with unilateral forgiveness.

2 Nephi 5:10–13 — Commandments, abundance, records, and direction

“The Lord was with us; and we did prosper exceedingly.”

Prosperity includes God’s presence, planted food, flocks, records, and the Liahona. These are resources for physical and spiritual continuity. The people can remember where they came from and receive direction about where to go.

Restoration parallel: Alma 37:38–47 later interprets the Liahona as a type of how Christ’s word directs by faith and diligence.

2 Nephi 5:14–18 — Defense, craftsmanship, temple, and leadership

“I did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands.”

Nephi patterns swords for defense, teaches building and craftsmanship, constructs a temple, and resists the people’s desire to make him king. The sequence gathers safety, work, worship, and political restraint. The society is promising but not perfected; Nephi acknowledges that his people desire kingship despite his concern.

Come, Follow Me connection: Build with the best available material. What “exceedingly fine” offering can you make this week without waiting for ideal time, health, money, or talent?

2 Nephi 5:19–20 — The covenant breach named

“They shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.”

The brothers reject Nephi as ruler and teacher and seek his life. Verse 20 defines the central curse as separation from God’s presence through refusal to hearken. Martin reads “cut off” in the legal-covenant sense of ending their participation in the Lehitic covenant, while stressing that repentance can reopen covenant relationship.¹⁷

Come, Follow Me connection: The opposite of covenant cursing is not ethnic privilege. It is restored presence through repentance and Jesus Christ.

2 Nephi 5:21–25 — A difficult text read under the whole gospel

“Save they shall repent of their iniquities.”

Whatever the nature of the mark, the text anchors separation in hardened hearts and iniquity, and it leaves repentance open. The official manual’s interpretation controls responsible Church teaching: the curse is loss of the Lord’s Spirit; the mark is not fully understood; skin color does not determine divine favor.²

Verse 25’s “scourge” language describes future conflict and remembrance, not permission for hatred. The two peoples will repeatedly function as warnings to one another, and each will experience cycles of faithfulness and rebellion.

Come, Follow Me connection: When a scripture has been used to wound, do not rush past the wound. State what is known, label what is interpretive, reject racism plainly, and let Christ’s universal invitation govern the reading.

2 Nephi 5:26–27 — Ministry and the manner of happiness

“We lived after the manner of happiness.”

Jacob and Joseph are consecrated as priests and teachers, giving the community sustained ministry. Happiness follows as a summary of a pattern, not as a mood report. God is present; covenant is practiced; work and worship have structure; the vulnerable have a safer place; memory has records; the future has teachers.

Come, Follow Me connection: Do not chase happiness as an isolated feeling. Choose one element of its manner: worship, work, scripture, home, service, safety, repentance, gratitude, learning, or covenant remembrance.

2 Nephi 5:28–34 — Two records and forty difficult years

“Forty years had passed away, and we had already had wars and contentions with our brethren.”

The Lord commands the small plates for a wise purpose; Nephi keeps sacred ministry there and fuller history elsewhere. The chapter closes with conflict, guarding against a sentimental interpretation of verse 27. A people can know covenant happiness while living through dangerous history.

Come, Follow Me connection: Keep a record of ministry and mercy, not only conflict. Future readers need to know what God did inside the hard years.

A Covenant Pattern for the Manner of Happiness

Practice	Chapter 3	Chapter 4	Chapter 5
Remember	Ancient promises and future restoration	Past deliverances and divine love	Records, Liahona, and a preserved sacred history
Trust	God keeps a multigenerational covenant	“I know in whom I have trusted”	Believe warnings and revelations even when flight is costly
Act	Write and preserve words for descendants	Awake, rejoice, pray, repent	Flee danger, plant, build, teach, defend, worship
Belong	Become part of Joseph’s and Abraham’s covenant family	Address God as “my God” and “my rock”	Create home and identity without turning identity into superiority
Worship	Receive the records as witnesses of Christ	Offer a broken heart and contrite spirit	Center the settlement on commandments, ministry, and temple
Hope	Weakness becomes strength; scattered branches are remembered	Lament ends in trust, not despair	Happiness is possible before all wars and family wounds are resolved

Teaching Illustrations and Discussion Ideas

1. Four Josephs and one red thread

Place four name cards on a table: Joseph in Egypt, Joseph son of Lehi, Joseph Smith Sr., Joseph Smith Jr. Connect them with one red thread labeled covenant. On separate cards place the works named in 2 Nephi 3: remember, write, translate, grow together, establish peace, restore, gather.

Ask: Which person performs each action? Which actions ultimately belong to God? How does this keep the lesson centered on Christ’s covenant rather than on admiration of a human figure?

2. Two records braided together

Use two differently colored strips labeled Judah/Bible and Joseph/Book of Mormon. Read a paired passage—such as Genesis 49:22–26 and 2 Nephi 3:5, or Ezekiel 37:15–28 and 2 Nephi 3:12—then braid the strips.

Ask: What false doctrine becomes harder to maintain when these witnesses grow together? What contention should this combined witness help lay down?

3. Map the valley of sorrow

Draw a path through a valley. Place Nephi’s movements along it: delight → lament → nevertheless → remember → question → awake → ask → trust. Do not draw the path as a straight upward line; grief often loops.

Invite learners to identify which movement they need today. No one must disclose private trauma. The point is that Nephi gives sorrow a vocabulary and a direction, not a deadline.

4. The covenant memory ledger

Fold a page into two columns:

What is true and hard right now
What God has already done and promised

The first column prevents denial; the second prevents despair from claiming to be the whole truth. Finish with one sentence beginning, “Nevertheless, I know …”

5. Build happiness from artifacts

Place or draw six objects: a scripture, compass, tent, tool, temple image, and shield. Let each group connect the object to a verse in 2 Nephi 5 and explain both its gift and its possible distortion.

Example: a shield represents safety, but fear can become aggression; a tool represents purposeful work, but productivity can become an idol; a temple represents God’s presence, but temple attendance without charity can become empty appearance.

6. Exceedingly fine with available material

Give learners unequal sets of simple building materials—paper, tape, sticks, blocks. Ask each group to make a small sacred-space model using only what it received. Discuss why God did not condemn Nephi’s temple for lacking Solomon’s gold.

Ask: Where am I postponing consecration because my material is not ideal? What can “exceedingly fine” mean when resources are limited?

7. Boundary, forgiveness, reconciliation

Draw three concentric circles:

Forgiveness: I release vengeance and seek Christ’s healing.
Boundary: I determine safe access and behavior.
Reconciliation: We rebuild trust through repentance, truth, change, and safety.

Use Nephi’s flight to show that these are related but not identical. Forgiveness may begin unilaterally; reconciliation cannot be faked by one person while another continues violence.

8. A slow-reading protocol for difficult verses

For 2 Nephi 5:20–25, use four cards:

What the text explicitly says
What the official manual explicitly teaches
What scholars propose but cannot prove
What the Church rejects

This protects learners from both evasiveness and overconfidence. End with 2 Nephi 26:33, not to erase the difficult text but to place it within Nephi’s larger witness of Christ.

9. Write a personal psalm

Use Nephi’s pattern:

“My soul delights in …”
“My heart grieves because …”
“Nevertheless, I know …”
“My God has supported me by …”
“Awake, my soul; today …”
“O Lord, wilt thou …”
“I have trusted, and I will trust …”

The result need not be shared. The spiritual work is to place real emotion inside remembered relationship with God.

Questions for Personal Study and Teaching

Why does Lehi begin Joseph’s blessing by naming both sorrow and consecrated land?
What changes when 2 Nephi 3 is read as a chapter about covenant rather than only as a prediction of Joseph Smith?
Which promised fruit of the two records—doctrinal clarity, reduced contention, peace, ancestral knowledge, covenant knowledge—do I most need?
How can a person honor Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling without pretending he had no mortal weakness?
What simple testimony should I record even if my words feel weak?
Why might Nephi place his psalm where readers could have expected his own blessing from Lehi?
What does Nephi’s emotional honesty teach about the difference between faith and emotional invulnerability?
How does “nevertheless” differ from denial or forced positivity?
Which of God’s past acts does Nephi remember, and which acts of God should I deliberately remember?
What is the difference between confessing “I have sinned” and accepting “I am only wretched” as a permanent identity?
Why does Nephi command himself not to remain angry while also asking for escape from enemies?
How can 2 Nephi 4 support mental and emotional healing without becoming a substitute for professional care?
What does the requested “robe of righteousness” teach about grace and identity?
Why might a delayed answer to Nephi’s prayer still be evidence of covenant faithfulness?
What does the command to flee teach about safety, forgiveness, and boundaries?
Which materials from Lehi’s old household become foundations for the new Nephite community?
What does Nephi’s temple teach about consecrating limited resources?
Which details in chapter 5 form a “manner” rather than a momentary feeling of happiness?
How can a community maintain identity without creating contempt for outsiders?
What is explicitly known about the curse in 2 Nephi 5? What remains unknown about the mark?
Why is “Nephites good, Lamanites bad” an inadequate reading of the whole Book of Mormon?
What responsibility does a teacher have when scripture has been used to justify racial harm?
How do the wars in verse 34 deepen rather than contradict the meaning of happiness in verse 27?
Which one practice—remember, trust, act, belong, worship, or hope—would most change the manner of my week?

Gospel Library Scripture Links

Assigned reading

Essential parallels

Useful Internal Connections

Joseph Smith
Covenants
Cutting covenants
Temple
Psalms
After the manner of happiness
Atonement
The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division
Parallels between Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi
2 Nephi 1–2 — Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life, through the Great Mediator

← Previous: 2 Nephi 1–2 | Next: 2 Nephi 6–10 →

Annotated Source Guide

Official and scriptural sources

Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Book of Mormon 2024, February 12–18. Establishes the exact official title and organizes the lesson around Joseph Smith’s divinely assigned work, Nephi’s trust amid weakness, gospel happiness, and a careful official explanation of the Lamanite curse and mark.¹
2 Nephi 3–5 and Restoration parallels. Primary authority for the guide. JST Genesis 50, Psalms 25–31, Ezekiel 37, Alma 23 and 37, Ether 12, Doctrine and Covenants, and Joseph Smith—History are used as explicit parallels rather than replacements for Nephi’s text.

BYU Studies index and scholarship

BYU Studies Come, Follow Me index, lesson 7. Checked first. It inventories sources on Joseph the seer, Lehi’s testament, the Psalm of Nephi, possible Psalm parallels, Nephite identity, record abridgment, priesthood, and competing readings of “skin of blackness.”²⁰
Kenneth L. Alford and D. Bryce Baker, “Parallels between Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi.” Supplies the cautious literary comparison of heart/soul language, grief, enemies, paths, mercy, deliverance, rejoicing, rock, and trust. Retained locally as Parallels between Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi.⁶
Patrick Q. Mason, “The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division.” Contributes reception history and a reading of the psalm as both interior struggle and lament over family fracture. Retained locally as The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division.⁷
T. J. Uriona, “‘Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing’: New Context for ‘Skin of Blackness’ in the Book of Mormon.” The index surfaces an ancient Near Eastern covenant-death proposal. The guide names it only as one scholarly possibility and does not treat it as official or settled.¹⁸
John W. Welch, “Lehi’s Last Will and Testament: A Legal Approach.” Supplies historical-legal context for Lehi’s public farewell across 2 Nephi 1–4; already retained locally as Lehi’s Last Will and Testament — John W. Welch.³

2024 and local series sources

followHIM episode 7, Dr. Jan J. Martin (2024). The locally retained proofread show-notes PDF and new extracted companion text contribute the covenant-centered reading of all three chapters, four Josephs, grief and family rupture, a proposed treaty pattern in the psalm, healthy boundaries, the distinction between curse and mark, interpretive caution, and the material practices of happiness.²¹
Unshaken, 2 Nephi 3–5, parts 1–2. Local transcripts contribute the four-Joseph frame, weak words made strong, scripture engraved on heart and plates, the emotional movement of the psalm, the inspired-retreat image, the verse-by-verse inventory of happiness, best-available-material temple illustration, and a broad survey of interpretations of the difficult mark passage.⁴
Gospel Talktrine, S03E06, 2 Nephi 1–5. Local transcript contributes the reading of Nephi’s prayer as refusing to let his brothers’ violence dictate his moral response and the “artifacts of happiness” frame: temple, Liahona, brass plates, sword, work, and willing action.¹²
Don’t Miss This, 2 Nephi 1–5. Local transcript was audited, especially its opening warning to distinguish the curse from the mark, reject racialized readings, acknowledge past harm, and teach repentance as renewed access to God’s presence.²² Its episode spans a broader unit and an earlier calendar alignment, so it is used only where it actually discusses chapter 5.
Adam Miller, Letters to a Young Mormon. Used for the narrow caution that “after the manner of happiness” should not be romanticized into a flawless society; the local full-text excerpt explicitly joins 2 Nephi 5:27 to Nephi’s confession in 2 Nephi 4.⁹

Local collection audit

A full-vault search by assigned reading, official title, aliases, and legacy locations found no preexisting substantive guide, partial guide, or exact-title Inbox placeholder for 2 Nephi 3–5. Matching local 2024 material was found in Unshaken, Gospel Talktrine, Don’t Miss This, and the followHIM Book of Mormon PDF collection. No separate matching local episode was found under Sources/Series/Scripture Central/ during this run; that statement describes the current local search only, not everything Scripture Central may have published.

The previous written guide already links forward to this exact guide title in both required navigation locations. The next official guide, 2 Nephi 6–10, is not yet written, so this guide links to its exact intended official title without creating an Inbox placeholder.

Footnotes

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “February 12–18: ‘We Lived after the Manner of Happiness.’ 2 Nephi 3–5,” 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-2024/07?lang=eng. The page was checked for the exact title, assigned chapters, opening interpretive frame, and lesson emphases. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “What was the curse that came upon the Lamanites?” within the February 12–18 official manual page cited in note 1. Official teaching: the curse was being cut off from the Lord’s presence because of iniquity; the nature and appearance of the mark are not fully understood; dark skin does not determine divine favor; all are alike unto God. ↩ ↩² ↩³
John W. Welch, “Lehi’s Last Will and Testament: A Legal Approach,” in The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, the Doctrinal Structure, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989), 61–82, https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-second-nephi-doctrinal-structure/lehis-last-will-testament-legal-approach; local note Lehi’s Last Will and Testament — John W. Welch. Historical-legal scholarship, not official doctrine. ↩ ↩²
Jared Halverson, “Come Follow Me—2 Nephi 3–5 (part 1)—Four Josephs and the Psalm of Nephi,” Unshaken, local transcript, Come Follow Me - 2 Nephi 3-5 (part 1) - Four Josephs and the Psalm of Nephi, especially lines 38–46, 250–465, and 650–1020; and part 2, Come Follow Me - 2 Nephi 3-5 (part 2) - Nephite Blessing, Lamanite Curse. Devotional and literary interpretation, not official curriculum. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Jan J. Martin with Hank Smith and John Bytheway, “2 Nephi 3–5,” followHIM episode 7 (2024), local extracted show notes BM-07-Dr.-Jan-Martin-2-Nephi-3-5-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.md, especially lines 658–839 and 984–1003; original proofread PDF BM-07-Dr.-Jan-Martin-2-Nephi-3-5-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.pdf. Martin’s covenant-centered framing is scholarly-devotional interpretation. ↩ ↩²
Kenneth L. Alford and D. Bryce Baker, “Parallels between Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi,” in Ascending the Mountain of the Lord: Temple, Praise, and Worship in the Old Testament (Religious Studies Center, 2013), https://rsc.byu.edu/ascending-mountain-lord/parallels-between-psalms-25-31-psalm-nephi; local note Parallels between Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi — Alford and Baker. Literary scholarship; the authors explicitly present influence as a possibility rather than certainty. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Patrick Q. Mason, “The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division,” BYU Studies 62, no. 3 (2023), https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-psalm-of-nephi-in-an-age-of-anxiety-and-division/; local note The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division — Patrick Q. Mason. Reception history and literary interpretation, not a clinical diagnosis or official account of Nephi’s motives. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Halverson, “Four Josephs and the Psalm of Nephi,” local transcript cited in note 4, lines 719–745. “Double engraving” is a devotional teaching image based on Nephi’s writing on plates and pondering in his heart. ↩
Adam S. Miller, Letters to a Young Mormon (Maxwell Institute, 2014), local full-text excerpt LETTERS TO A YOUNG MORMON full book, line 300. Philosophical-devotional reflection, used to resist romanticizing either Nephi or his community. ↩ ↩²
Martin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 7, local extraction cited in note 5, lines 1346–1523. The proposed suzerainty-treaty structure is Martin’s scholarly interpretation; the guide uses it as an illuminating pattern, not as a settled fact required to understand the psalm. ↩
Martin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 7, local extraction cited in note 5, lines 1184–1358. The discussion distinguishes grief after a cherished parent’s death, grief over a painful parent relationship, and grief over sibling rupture; these are pastoral applications. ↩
Mark Holt, “2 Nephi 1–5—S03E06,” Gospel Talktrine, local transcript, S03E06 - 2 Nephi 1-5, especially lines 300–356. Holt’s reading of the “artifacts” and Nephi’s acting rather than being controlled by his brothers’ hatred is devotional interpretation. ↩ ↩²
Martin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 7 part 2, local extraction cited in note 5, lines 1680–1879, especially 1768–1798. Healthy-boundary application; not a substitute for individualized safety, legal, pastoral, or clinical counsel. ↩
Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Ministry of Reconciliation,” October 2018 general conference, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-ministry-of-reconciliation?lang=eng. Official apostolic teaching quoted in the followHIM discussion at local extraction lines 1799–1818. ↩
Halverson, “Nephite Blessing, Lamanite Curse,” local transcript cited in note 4, lines 37–98. Devotional application of 2 Nephi 5:5–6. ↩
Halverson, “Nephite Blessing, Lamanite Curse,” local transcript cited in note 4, lines 98–195; Holt, “2 Nephi 1–5—S03E06,” local transcript cited in note 12, lines 338–356. Both sources offer devotional inventories of happiness; the caution column in this guide is added to prevent overextension. ↩ ↩²
Martin with Smith and Bytheway, followHIM episode 7 part 2, local extraction cited in note 5, lines 1904–2118 and 2150–2478. Martin distinguishes covenant cursing from the disputed mark, surveys several scholarly proposals, and urges teachers not to declare one theory as settled. ↩ ↩²
T. J. Uriona, “‘Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing’: New Context for ‘Skin of Blackness’ in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 62, no. 3 (2023), 121–40, https://scripturecentral.org/archive/periodicals/journal-article/life-and-death-blessing-and-cursing-new-context-skin-blackness-book-mormon; surfaced by the BYU Studies lesson 7 index. Ancient Near Eastern historical-linguistic proposal, not official Church teaching; the guide does not depend on it to identify the curse, which the official manual defines directly. ↩ ↩²
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng. The essay states that the Church disavows past theories that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or a premortal curse and condemns racism in any form. ↩
BYU Studies, “Explore resources for studying the Come, Follow Me lesson—‘We Lived after the Manner of Happiness,’” Book of Mormon lesson 7 index, https://byustudies.byu.edu/come-follow-me/book-of-mormon/7. Curated scholarly index; individual authors are responsible for their own interpretations. ↩
Jan J. Martin with Hank Smith and John Bytheway, “2 Nephi 3–5,” followHIM Podcast episode 7 (2024), proofread show-notes PDF BM-07-Dr.-Jan-Martin-2-Nephi-3-5-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.pdf and extracted companion BM-07-Dr.-Jan-Martin-2-Nephi-3-5-followHIM-Podcast-SHOW-NOTES.md. Devotional educational podcast with scholarly discussion, not official curriculum. ↩
Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler, “Come Follow Me 2 Nephi 1–5 (Feb 3–9),” Don’t Miss This, local transcript, Come Follow Me 2 Nephi 1-5 (Feb 3-9), especially lines 44–179 and 560–589. Broader-unit devotional episode; cited only for material addressing 2 Nephi 5 and not represented as the official 2024 week division. ↩

tags	scripture-study, book-of-mormon, 2-nephi, joseph-smith, psalm-of-nephi, covenant, temple, happiness, come-follow-me/2024
aliases	We Lived after the Manner of Happiness, February 12–18 — We Lived after the Manner of Happiness, 2 Nephi 3–5, 2 Nephi 3-5, Come Follow Me February 12–18 2024, Come Follow Me 2 Nephi 3–5, February 12–18 2 Nephi 3–5, Four Josephs and the Psalm of Nephi

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2 Nephi 3–5 — We Lived after the Manner of Happiness