The Nephites’ riches have led to “grosser crimes,” including sexual immorality. Considering the importance of polygamy (also called plural marriage) in nineteenth-century Mormonism, this passage surprises both Mormon and non-Mormon readers. Apparently, Nephite men were engaging in “whoredoms”—that is, having sexual intercourse with women who were not their wives—and trying to justify it on the basis of the polygamous precedent of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament figures like David and Solomon. But Jacob is clear that if the Nephites imagine that they can simply excuse their own immoral behavior by drawing on biblical precedent, they “understand not the scriptures.”