- Behold, I, M’roni, do finish the record of my father M’raman. Behold, I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded of my father. And now it came to pass that after the great and tremendous battle at Kumorah, behold, the Nefites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites until they were all destroyed, and my father also was killed by them. And I, even I, remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfill the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not; therefore, I will write and hide up the records in the earth, and where I go, it matters not. Behold, my father has made this record and he has written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also, if I had room upon the plates, but I have not. And ore I have none, for I am alone; my father has been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor anywhere to go. And how long yhwh will allow that I may live, I know not. Behold, four hundred years33 have passed away since the coming of our Adonai and Savior. And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nefites, down, from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall. Yes, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nefites. And behold, it is the hand of yhwh which has done it. And behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another, and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed, and no one knows the end of the war.
- And now behold, I say no more concerning them, for there are none, except it be Lamanites and robbers that do exist upon the face of the land. And there are none that do know the true Elohim, except it be the talmidim34 of Yeshua who did remain in the land until the wickedness of the people was so great that yhwh would not allow them to remain with the people. And where they be upon the face of the land, no man knows. But behold, my father and I have seen them, and they have ministered unto us. And whoever receives this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things35 than these. Behold, I am M’roni, and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you.
- Behold, I make an end of speaking concerning this people. I am the son of M’raman, and my father was a descendant of Nefi, and I am the same who hides up this record unto yhwh. The plates thereof are of no worth because of the mitzvah of yhwh, for he truly said that no one shall have them to get gain. But the record thereof is of great worth,36 and whoever shall bring it to light, him will yhwh bless. For none can have power to bring it to light except it be given him of Elohim. For Elohim will that it shall be done with an eye single37 to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of yhwh; and blessed be him that shall bring this thing to light, for it shall be brought out of darkness unto light according to the word of Elohim. Yes, it shall be brought out of the earth,38 and it shall shine forth out of darkness and come unto the knowledge of the people, and it shall be done by the power of Elohim. And if there be faults, they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless, Elohim knows all things. Therefore, he that condemns, let him be aware that he shall be in danger of Gehinnom. And he that says, Show unto me or you shall be smitten — let him be aware that he commands that which is forbidden of yhwh. For behold, the same that judges39 rashly shall be judged rashly again, for according to his works shall his wages be. Therefore, he that smites shall be smitten again of yhwh. Behold what the scripture says: Man shall not smite, neither shall he judge, for judgment is mine, says yhwh, and vengeance40 is mine also, and I will repay. And he that shall breathe out anger and strifes against the work of yhwh and against the covenant people of yhwh, who are the house of Isra’el, and shall say, We will destroy the work of yhwh and yhwh will not remember his covenant which he has made unto the house of Isra’el, the same is in danger to be cut down and cast into the fire. For the eternal purposes of yhwh shall roll on until all his promises shall be fulfilled.
- Search the prophecies of Yesha’yahu.41 Behold, I cannot write them. Yes, behold, I say unto you that those k’doshim who have gone before me, who have possessed this land, shall cry, yes, even from the dust42 will they cry unto yhwh. And as yhwh lives, he will remember the covenant which he has made with them. And he knows their prayers, that they were in behalf of their brothers. And he knows their faith, for in his name could they remove mountains,43 and in his name could they cause the earth to shake, and by the power of his word did they cause prisons44 to tumble to the earth. Yes, even the fiery furnace could not harm them, neither wild beasts nor poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word. And behold, their prayers were also in behalf of him that yhwh should allow to bring these things forth. And no one need say, They shall not come, for they surely shall, for yhwh has spoken it. For out of the earth45 shall they come by the hand of yhwh, and none can stay it. And it shall come in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away. And it shall come even as if one should speak from the dead.46 And it shall come in a day when the blood of k’doshim shall cry unto yhwh because of secret conspiracies and the works of darkness. Yes, it shall come in a day when the power of Elohim shall be denied,47 and assemblies become defiled and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts, yes, even in a day when leaders of assemblies and teachers, shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them who belong to their assemblies. Yes, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands; and there shall also be heard of wars, and rumors of wars, and earthquakes in diverse places. Yes, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth — there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations — when there shall be many who will say, Do this or do that and it matters not, for yhwh will uphold48 such at the last day. But woe unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. Yes, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say, Come unto me, and for your money49 you shall be forgiven of your sins.
- O you wicked, and perverse, and stiffnecked people, why have you built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have you transfigured the holy word of Elohim that you might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look you unto the revelations of Elohim, for behold, the time comes at that day when all these things must be fulfilled. Behold, yhwh has shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come at that day when these things shall come forth among you. Behold, I speak unto you as if you were present, and yet you are not. But behold, Yeshua HaMashiach has shown you unto me, and I know your doing, and I know that you do walk in the pride of your hearts. And there are none, except a few only, who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquity. And your assemblies, yes, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts. For behold, you do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your assemblies, more than you love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted. O you pollutions, you hypocrites, you teachers who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have you polluted the holy assembly of Elohim? Why are you ashamed to take upon you the name of Mashiach? Why do you not think that greater is the value of an Endless happiness than that misery which never dies? Because of the praise of the world? Why do you adorn yourselves with that which has no life, and yet allow the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick, and the afflicted to pass by you and notice them not? Yes, why do you build up your secret abominations to get gain? And cause that widows should mourn before yhwh, and also orphans to mourn before yhwh, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto yhwh from the ground for vengeance upon your heads? Behold, the sword of vengeance hangs over you, and the time soon comes that he avenges the blood of the k’doshim upon you, for he will not allow their cries any longer.
- And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Mashiach. Behold, will you believe in the day of your visitation, behold, when yhwh shall come? Yes, even that great day when the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll50 and the elements shall melt51 with fervent heat? Yes, in that great day when you shall be brought to stand before the Lamb of Elohim, then will you say that there is no Elohim? Then will you longer deny the Mashiach? Or can you behold the Lamb of Elohim? Do you suppose that you shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do you suppose that you could be happy to dwell with that holy Being when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that you have continually abused his laws? Behold, I say unto you that you would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and a just Elohim under a consciousness of your uncleanness before him than you would to dwell with the damned souls in Gehinnom. For behold, when you shall be brought to see your nakedness before Elohim, and also the glory of Elohim, and the holiness of Yeshua HaMashiach, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you. Oh then, you unbelieving, turn unto yhwh. Cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Yeshua that perhaps you may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day.
- And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of Elohim and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Behold, I say unto you, he that denies these things knows not the besorah of Mashiach. Yes, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them. For do we not read that Elohim is the same52 yesterday, today, and for ever? And in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if you have imagined up unto yourselves a god who does vary, and in him there is shadow of changing, then have you imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not an Elohim of miracles. But behold, I will show unto you an Elohim of miracles, even the Elohim of Avraham, and the Elohim of Yitz’chak, and the Elohim of Ya’akov.53 And it is that same Elohim who created the heavens and the earth,54 and all things that in them are. Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the Fall of man. And because of the Fall of man came Yeshua HaMashiach, even the Father and the Son; and because of Yeshua HaMashiach came the redemption of man. And because of the redemption55 of man which came by Yeshua HaMashiach, they are brought back into the presence of yhwh — yes, this is the way in which all men are redeemed, because the death of Mashiach brings to pass the resurrection, which brings to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of Elohim when the shofar shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death. And then comes the judgment of HaKodesh upon them. And then comes the time that he that is unclean shall be unclean56 still, and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still, and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.
- And now, O all you that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, Have all these things passed of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold, I say unto you, no, and Elohim has not ceased to be an Elohim of miracles. Behold, are not the things that Elohim has worked marvelous in our eyes? Yes, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of Elohim? Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be? And by the power of his word, man was created of the dust of the earth? And by the power of his word have miracles been worked? And who shall say that Yeshua HaMashiach did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles worked by the hands of the emissaries. And if there were miracles worked, then why has Elohim ceased to be an Elohim of miracles and yet be an unchangeable being? And behold, I say unto you, he changes not; if so, he would cease57 to be Elohim. And he ceases not to be Elohim, and is an Elohim of miracles. And the reason why he ceases to do miracles among the children of men is because they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the Elohim in whom they should trust.
- Behold, I say unto you that whosoever believes in Mashiach, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask58 the Father, in the name of Mashiach, it shall be granted him. And this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth. For behold, thus said Yeshua HaMashiach, the Son of Elohim, unto his talmidim who should remain, yes, and also to all his talmidim, in the hearing of the multitude: Go59 into all the world and preach the besorah to every creature. And he that believes and is washed by immersion shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth. And now behold, who can stand against the works of yhwh? Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of yhwh? Who will despise the works of yhwh? Who will despise the children of Mashiach? Behold, all you who are despisers of the works of yhwh, for you shall wonder and perish.
- Oh then despise not and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of yhwh and ask the Father in the name of Yeshua for whatsoever things of which you shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto yhwh with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness. Ask, not that you may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken that you will yield to no temptation, but that you will serve the true and living Elohim. See that you are not immersed unworthily. See that you partake not of the sacred meal of Mashiach unworthily, but see that you do all things in worthiness, and do it in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, the Son of the living Elohim. And if you do this and endure to the end, you will in no way be cast out. Behold, I speak unto you as though I speak from the dead, for I know that you shall hear my words.
- Condemn me not because of my imperfection, neither my father because of his imperfection, neither they who have written before him. But rather, give thanks unto Elohim that he has made manifest unto you our imperfections, that you may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew has been altered by us also. And if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, you would have had no imperfection in our record. But yhwh knows the things which we have written, and also that no other people knows our language; and because no other people knows our language, therefore he has prepared means for the interpretation thereof. And these things are written that we may rid our garments60 of the blood of our brothers who have dwindled in unbelief. And behold, these things which we have desired concerning our brothers, yes, even their restoration to the knowledge of Mashiach, is according to the prayers of all the k’doshim who have dwelt in the land. And may Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith, and may Elohim the Father remember the covenant which he has made with the house of Isra’el, and may he bless them for ever through faith on the name of Yeshua HaMashiach. Amen.
THE BOOK OF M’RAMAN Chapter 4