The information is here given (1) that this land is a consecrated land, a holy land, to all those whom the Lord shall bring here, as the land of Canaan was to the Hebrews; (2) that if the people will serve God, they will enjoy the blessed gift of liberty, but that (3) if they become steeped in iniquity, the land itself will be cursed by that condition. It is only to the righteous—that is, the righteous people—that, “it shall be blessed forever.”
And here it might be said that when Lehi speaks of a “righteous” people, he does not mean a nation consisting exclusively of righteous individuals. Such a people has not existed on earth since the days of Enoch. Sinners we have always with us. A righteous people is one which acknowledges the sovereignty of the Lord; a people whose legislators aim at making only just and equitable laws; whose judges judge in righteousness, and whose executives apply the laws in impartial warfare upon the unrighteous. That is a righteous people—a people that has the promises of divine blessings in the land of Zion.