1 BEHOLD, now it came to pass in the *sixty and ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of the Nephites, that Nephi, the son of Helaman, returned to the land of Zarahemla from the land northward. 2 For he had been forth among the people who were in the land northward, and did preach the word of God unto them, and did prophesy many things unto them; 3 And they did reject all his words, insomuch that he could not stay among them, but returned again unto the land of his nativity. 12 And now, when Nephi arose he beheld the multitudes of people who had gathered together.