The first time the voice was heard, it was easy to hear an angry God, declaring destruction at his judging hand. The declaration that it was the God who was also the Messiah whom they had awaited must have ameliorated the terror somewhat. Still, it was a solemn people who waited in quiet to see what might come next.
The next voice is perhaps no longer an angry God, but a sorrowful one. There is lamentation for the fact that God would have preferred to protect rather than destroy. This is a lamentation not only for the Nephites, but for the whole house of Israel. After all, when the voice was first heard, Jesus had declared that “my own received me not” (3 Nephi 9:16).