8 And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him;
9 And also, I, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.
10 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father by night and commanded him that on the morrow he should take his journey into the wilderness.
11 And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning and went forth to the tent door, and to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship and it was of fine brass;
12 And within the ball were two spindles, And the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.
13 And it came to pass that we did gather together whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness and all the remainder of our provisions which the Lord had given unto us;
14 And we did take seed of every kind that we might carry into the wilderness.
15 And it came to pass that we did take our tents and departed into the wilderness across the River Laman.
16 And it came to pass that we traveled for the space of four days nearly a south, southeast direction; And we did pitch our tents again; And we did call the name of the place Shazer.
17 And it came to pass that we did take our bows and our arrows and go forth into the wilderness to slay food for our families; And after that we had slain food for our families, we did return again to our families in the wilderness to the Place of Shazer;
18 And we did go forth again in the wilderness following the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness which were in the borders near the Red Sea.