Abinadi was a Nephite prophet active around 150 BC who preached repentance to the people of King Noah³. He was the first recorded Nephite executed for his testimony, burned to death after refusing to recall his words (Mosiah 17:20).
After an earlier preaching had nearly cost him his life, Abinadi returned two years later, this time in disguise, warning that unless the people repented they would be brought into bondage and Noah’s life valued “even as a garment in a hot furnace” (Mosiah 12:1-8). Noah’s priests questioned him to find grounds to accuse him, but he confounded them and turned the questioning back on them, charging them with teaching the law of Moses without keeping it, then reciting the Ten Commandments (Mosiah 12:19-37, Mosiah 13:12-24). He taught that salvation does not come by the law of Moses alone but through the atonement of God himself (Mosiah 13:27-28, 15:1-9), and that God would come down among men, be called both the Father and the Son, be crucified, and break the bands of death (Mosiah 15:1-9).
One of Noah’s priests, Alma¹, believed Abinadi’s words and pleaded with the king to spare him; the king cast Alma out and sent servants to kill him, but Alma hid and wrote down what Abinadi had said (Mosiah 17:1-4). Given the choice to recall his words or die, Abinadi refused, saying his testimony would stand against the king at the last day (Mosiah 17:9-10).
Abinadi had prophesied that Noah’s life would be valued as a garment in a hot furnace. Noah was later put to death by fire by his own people when he forbade them from returning to defend their families (Mosiah 19:20).