Jacob’s declaration that Yahweh has revealed his audience’s thoughts to him strongly implies that, despite their sinful thoughts, they have not yet all engaged in sinful actions. He is thus going to talk about sin of thought and intent, the beginning states of a corrupt heart. These people are beginning to labor in sin—not necessarily because of what they are doing but because of how their thoughts are altering their hearts. Nevertheless, it is also unlikely that no one had acted upon these thoughts. The most likely scenario has a limited number of men who have achieved some economic separation from the rest of society and created social divisions. What is “beginning” in the Nephite thought is the acceptance of the hierarchical society rather than the Nephite egalitarian ideal.