According to the Book of Mormon, Lehi (/ˈliːhaɪ/ LEE-hy)[1] was a prophet who lived in Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah (approximately 600 BC).

As they travel, Lehi has a vision of the tree of life in which most of his family, excepting Laman and Lemuel, accepts God.

Lehi likely had daughters in addition to his named sons and has been compared to Moses both in his calling as a prophet and leadership of an exodus.

He is the namesake of the modern-day city of Lehi, Utah[3] and has been depicted in many fiction and non-fiction books, movies, and works of art.

He lives in Jerusalem around 600 years before the coming of Jesus Christ in a time when many prophets are preaching the city would be destroyed.

[8] The Lord asks Lehi to send his sons back to Jerusalem for the plates of brass, which contain family records and other teachings, from Laban.

[9] When they return safely, Lehi reads through the plates, discovers he is descended from Joseph of Egypt, and teaches his sons more of what he learns from the records.

[10] Sometime after their return, he has a dream with a vision of a tree of life in which Sariah, Sam, and Nephi eat of the fruit representing God's love and Laman and Lemuel choose not to.

[14] The family is guided across the ocean, but Laman and Lemuel's rebellious actions along the way cause Lehi and Sariah so much grief that they become sick and close to death.

[20] Laman and Lemuel are often spoken of in negative terms such as when Lehi urges them to improve and be firm and continuously righteous as the river and the valley in which they are camping.

Both times Lehi's sons returned from Jerusalem, joy and thanks are described, which lines up with descriptions the sacrifices of thanksgiving described in Psalm 107, says Brown.

Sacrifices of thanksgiving are alternately translated as peace offerings, which were connected with the idea of well-being and therefore with safe travels.

[27] BYU professor of ancient scripture S. Kent Brown explains that in Lehi's time, a large caravan could travel from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean in a span of weeks rather than years.

Based on the resources they brought with them and the fact that they ran out of food multiple times on the way, Lehi and his family may have turned to a tribe in the area for help in exchange for work.

[30] Latter-day Saint apologist Hugh Nibley writes of the oft-compared phrasing from 2 Nephi 1:14 with a quote from Hamlet.

[38] From January to May 2024, the Harold B. Lee Library's Reynolds Auditorium Gallery hosted an exhibition of artwork of Lehi's vision of the tree of life.

[39] Depictions of Lehi's tree of life vision account for 7% of all visual art of Book of Mormon content.

[41] American artist George M. Ottinger's Arrival in the New World, also produced around 1890, is a scene of Lehi with Ishmael, Nephi, and family.