LEHINEPHI

Lehite GN

1.

Land and city, ca. 121 BC (Mosiah 7:1; 9:8)

It is assumed that this city was identical to the city formerly known simply as Nephi, which had been settled by Nephi I and his people during the 6th c. BC (2 Nephi 5:8). It is possible that the Lamanites, who detested Nephi, renamed the site Lehi after Mosiah I and his people left. Thus, it would have been called simply Lehi by the Lamanites when Zeniff and his people arrived. If the preceding can be assumed to be true, then it may be further assumed that Zeniff and the returning Nephites (Mosiah 9:1, 6, 8) would have liked to have referred to the site by its original designation, Nephi, but out of deference to the Lamanite king, whom they accepted as their nominal leader, settled for a compromise, i.e., Lehi-Nephi.  

Cf. Book of Mormon LEHI, NEPHI, ANTINEPHILEHI

See also Lehi-Nephi Variants