The judges, apparently before beginning the formal questioning, attempt a bribe. If Nephi had accepted the proffered goods, he would have violated his well-known religious principles, lost his standing as a moral authority, and discredited himself as a prophet. (See a similar tactic by Zeezrom with Alma and Amulek in the commentary accompanying Alma 11:22–25.) Of course, the goods did not represent a temptation to Nephi, and it is some measure of the judges’ materialism that they thought the ploy had a chance of succeeding.