These three verses contain a powerful lesson about how truth impacts those who resist it. Nephi’s brothers complained that what he said was “hard… more than we are able to bear,” yet Nephi did not specifically condemn them. Their consciences had located their place in the spectrum of the righteous and guilty. Perhaps they understood that it was their progeny who would stray. In a way, this was encouraging; they were not yet so far from the Spirit that it could not touch them. Nephi recognized their declaration for precisely what it was: their admission that they needed to repent.