Nephi said that he made his record in “the language of the Egyptians” (1 Nephi 1:2). About 470 years later, King Benjamin taught his sons “in all the language of his fathers” (Mosiah 1:2), which was likely the same “language of the Egyptians” that Lehi taught to his children (see Mosiah 1:4). Moroni indicated that by his day, approximately 1,000 years from the time of Lehi and Nephi, he and other record keepers had written “in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech” (Mormon 9:32).
Nephi said that “many prophets” came among the people in Jerusalem. We know Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah were all contemporary prophets who testified in the Kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah 35:15 includes a similar comment about numerous prophets being sent by the Lord to warn the people (see also 2 Chronicles 36:15–16).
Jeremiah was a mighty prophet in Lehi and Nephi’s day and is mentioned in 1 Nephi 5:13 and 7:14. He ministered to the Jews from 626 BC to 586 BC. Unlike Lehi, Jeremiah stayed in Jerusalem and continued to call the people to repentance (see Bible Dictionary, “Jeremiah”). After Lehi left Jerusalem, Jeremiah was put in prison. Jeremiah also wrote the book of Lamentations, wherein he lamented the destruction of Jerusalem and the fact that the people did not repent.
“Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.
“… However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Laborers in the Vineyard,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 33).
“Those prophets I have known are the most loving of men. It is because of their love and integrity that they cannot modify the Lord’s message merely to make people feel comfortable. They are too kind to be so cruel” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Listen to the Prophets,”Ensign, May 1978, 77).
“In addition to teaching, encouraging, and cheering people on (that is the pleasant part of discipleship), from time to time … messengers [of the Lord] are called upon to worry, to warn, and sometimes just to weep (that is the painful part of discipleship). They know full well that the road leading to the promised land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ [Exodus 3:8] of necessity runs by way of Mount Sinai, flowing with ‘thou shalts’ and ‘thou shalt nots’ [see Exodus 20:3–17].
“Unfortunately, messengers of divinely mandated commandments are often no more popular today than they were anciently” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Cost—and Blessings—of Discipleship,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 7).