“The Olive Trees,” Book of Mormon Stories (2023)
The Olive Trees
God’s love for His people
Jacob was a prophet of God. He wanted to teach the Nephites about how much God loves His people. Jacob told them a story about a vineyard of olive trees. The Lord of the vineyard and His servant worked together to care for the vineyard.
The Lord had a special olive tree that grew good fruit. Jacob said that this tree was like God’s people, or the house of Israel. The fruit was like people’s actions. The Lord took great care of this tree. He helped it grow by feeding its roots and pruning its branches. He gave it what it needed to live.
After a while, His special tree began to die. There were only a few healthy branches. This made the Lord sad. He wanted it to keep growing good fruit.
To save the healthy branches, the Lord removed them and attached them to other trees. Then He replaced them with healthy branches from other trees.
A long time passed. The Lord and the servant came to the vineyard often. They cared for the Lord’s special tree. They also cared for the special branches that were scattered in trees all over the vineyard. Most of the fruit that grew was good. The good fruit made the Lord and His servant happy.
After some time, each of the trees grew more fruit. But now all the fruit was bad. The Lord was very sad. He did not want to lose His vineyard or its fruit! He had worked hard to help His trees. He wondered what else He could do. He talked with the servant and chose to keep trying.
To save His vineyard, the Lord said to gather the branches He had removed from the special tree. He said to attach them to the special tree again.
This was the last time the Lord would work in His vineyard. He called other servants to help. Everyone worked together to gather and attach the branches.
They cared for all the trees. They removed bad branches and kept good ones. After a while, the Lord’s special tree grew good fruit again. The other trees also grew fruit that was as good as the special tree’s fruit. The Lord was happy. His trees were saved! They all grew the fruit He wanted them to have.
The Lord thanked the servants. He told them they were blessed for working hard and keeping His commandments. He shared the fruit with them, and it made them very happy. For a long time, the Lord enjoyed the fruit.
Jacob finished the story of the olive trees. He taught the people that God cares for them just like the Lord of the vineyard cared for His trees. Jacob asked everyone to repent and come closer to God. He taught them to love and serve God because God is always reaching out to help them.