“Abinadi and King Noah,” Book of Mormon Stories (2023)
Abinadi and King Noah
A message from a prophet
King Noah ruled over the Nephites living in the land of Nephi. Noah made his people give him lots of money and then spent it on nice things for himself. He called priests who were prideful to help him rule. Noah did not keep God’s commandments. Instead, he did many wicked things.
Noah led his people to be wicked too. They did not follow the Lord.
A prophet of God named Abinadi lived in the land. The Lord sent Abinadi to tell Noah and his people to repent.
Abinadi told the people the Lord wanted them to repent. If they did not repent, the Lord would let enemies come to their land and rule over them. Their enemies would make life very hard for Noah and his people.
The people were mad at Abinadi for what he said. They wanted to kill him, but the Lord kept Abinadi safe and helped him escape.
Noah wanted to kill Abinadi too. Noah did not believe in the Lord. He and his people did not repent.
Two years later, the Lord sent Abinadi back to warn the people. Abinadi told the people that their enemies would take over the land because they had not repented. The people got mad at Abinadi. They said they did nothing wrong and would not repent. They tied up Abinadi and took him to Noah.
Noah and his priests came up with a plan. The priests tried to trick Abinadi by asking him many questions. But Abinadi bravely answered them. The priests were surprised by Abinadi’s answers. They could not trick him. Abinadi told the priests that they cared more about money than doing what was right.
Noah told his priests to kill Abinadi. But Abinadi warned them not to touch him. His face shone with God’s power. Abinadi said the priests had not taught God’s laws. Abinadi taught them that Jesus Christ would be born, die for us, and be resurrected. He said Jesus would forgive them if they repented.
Abinadi finished the message that the Lord sent him to give. Noah was still mad. He told his priests to take Abinadi and put him to death.
One priest, Alma, believed Abinadi. Alma tried to save Abinadi. But now Noah was mad at Alma too and forced him to leave.
The priests told Abinadi he could live if he said that what he taught was not true. But Abinadi said he had taught the truth. Noah and his priests became mad again. They put Abinadi to death with fire. Noah’s guards tried to kill Alma too. But Alma hid and wrote down all of Abinadi’s words.