almost always used when reference is made to persons going towards the land of Nephi. Not only did they travel from Zarahemla up the Sidon and across the wilderness to Nephi, but also UP from the land of Ishmael and other portions of the land of Nephi to the city of Nephi and its surroundings. In contradistinction to this, persons leaving Nephi went down to the land of Zarahemla and other places.
The only time in which the word down is used, when referring to parties going towards Nephi, is when certain persons came down to the city from off the hill mentioned above.
In the second generation the Nephites began to grow numerous, and iniquity made its appearance among them. It was then that Jacob, their priest, prophesied: The time speedily cometh, that except ye repent, they [the Lamanites] shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you. This prophecy was completely fulfilled, if not on previous occasions, about 300 years or so afterwards, when Mosiah, by the command of God, led the righteous Nephites out of the land of their inheritance—the land of Nephi—down into the land of Zarahemla.
From that time the land of Nephi was possessed and ruled by the posterity of Laman, Lemuel and Ishmael; or by Nephite apostates, who, with superior cunning, worked themselves on to the Lamanite throne.
During the era that the Nephites dwelt in the land of Nephi they built several cities. These the Lamanites eagerly took possession of when Mosiah and his people vacated them. Reference to them is found in the record of Zeniff's return from Zarahemla, and reoccupancy, by treaty with the Lamanites, of a portion of the old Nephite home, known as Lehi-Nephi and Shilom.
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