As for himself, Lehi has received an assurance from the Lord that he will be redeemed -- in other words, his calling and election has been made sure. Nevertheless, Lehi carries a heavy burden concerning his two older sons. He knows they have seen an angel and beheld the powers of God sufficiently to come under condemnation as sons of perdition if they do not repent. This means that if they continue on this apostate course and they die in their sins, Laman and Lemuel could be eventually cast back into outer darkness and lost as children of God forever.
As for their descendants of Laman and Lemuel, both Lehi and Nephi had seen that if they also apostatized they would be cursed by God from generation to generation. Now listen as Lehi pleads with these two older sons:
“O my sons, that these things might not come upon you, but that ye might be a choice and a favored people of the Lord. But behold, his will be done; for his ways are righteousness forever. And he hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence. And now that my soul might have joy in you, and that my heart might leave this world with gladness because of you, that I might not be brought down with grief and sorrow to the grave, arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity; That ye may not be cursed with a sore cursing; and also, that ye may not incur the displeasure of a just God upon you, unto the destruction, yea, the eternal destruction of both soul and body. Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.”