Wicked King Noah and the Prophet Abinadi: Mosiah 11

 ... Zeniff conferred the kingdom upon Noah, one of his sons; 

King Noah

therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father... he did walk after the desires of his own heart.  And he had many wives and ^aconcubines. And he did ^bcause his people to commit sin, and do that which was ^cabominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit ^dwhoredoms and ^eall manner of wickedness.

3 And he laid a ^atax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ^bziff, and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain.

4 And all this did he take to ^asupport himself, and his wives and his ^bconcubines; and also his priests, and their wives and their concubines; thus he had changed the affairs of the kingdom.

5 For he put down all the priests that had been consecrated by his father, and consecrated new ^aones in their stead, such as were lifted up in the pride of their hearts.

6 Yea, and thus they were supported in their laziness, and in their idolatry, and in their whoredoms, by the taxes which king Noah had put upon his people; thus did the people labor exceedingly to support iniquity.

7 Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.

8 And it came to pass that king Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings; and he ornamented them with fine work of wood,  and of all manner of ^aprecious things, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of brass, and of ziff, and of copper...

And he also built him a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst thereof...  And he also caused that his workmen should work all manner of fine work within the walls of the ^atemple, of fine wood, and of copper, and of brass. And the seats which were set apart for the ^ahigh priests, which were above all the other seats, he did ornament with pure gold;  and he caused a breastwork to be built before them, that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people.

12 And it came to pass that he built a ^atower  near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of ^bShilom, and also the land of ^cShemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about.

14 And it came to pass that he placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in ^ariotous living with his wives and his concubines; and so did also his priests spend their time with harlots.

    And it came to pass that he planted vineyards round about in the land; and he built wine-presses, and made ^awine in abundance; and therefore he became a wine-bibber, and also his people.

...They were lifted up in the pride of their hearts; they did ^aboast in their own strength, saying that their fifty could stand against thousands of the Lamanites; and thus they did boast, and did delight in blood, and the shedding of the blood of their brethren, and this because of the wickedness of their king and priests.

 20 And it came to pass that there was a man among them whose name was ^aAbinadi;  

and he went forth among them, and began to prophesy, saying: Behold, thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me, saying, Go forth, and say unto this people, thus saith the Lord—Wo be unto this people, for I have seen their abominations, and their wickedness, and their whoredoms; and except they repent I will ^bvisit them in mine anger.

26 Now it came to pass that when Abinadi had spoken these words unto them they were wroth with him, and sought to take away his life; but the Lord ^adelivered him out of their hands.



King Noah

 27 Now when king Noah had heard of the words which Abinadi had spoken unto the people, he was also wroth; and he said: ^aWho is Abinadi,   that I and my people should be judged of him, or ^bwho is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?

28 I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might ^astir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him.

29 Now the eyes of the people were ^ablinded; therefore they ^bhardened their hearts against the words of Abinadi, and they sought from that time forward to take him. And king Noah hardened his heart against the word of the Lord, and he did not repent of his evil doings.