According to John Tvedtnes, that there was a conspiracy in Jerusalem in the days of Lehi is confirmed by Jeremiah 9:2-8, where we read of the "secret lying conspiracy" (the term is also used in Jeremiah 11:9; see 12:6). The Lord told Jeremiah that "a conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 11:9). Ezekiel spoke of the same in these terms: "There is a conspiracy of [Jerusalem's false] prophets in the midst thereof . . . they have taken the treasure and precious things" (Ezekiel 22:25). Again, we are reminded that the goal of the conspirators among the Nephites was to murder and "get gain." The existence of a conspiracy is also suggested by the fact that Jeremiah's enemies said, "Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah" (Jeremiah 18:18).
Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Lehi and Nephi may have learned by revelation of the intrigues going on in Jerusalem in their day. Lehi spoke of the "abominations" in Jerusalem and prophesied its destruction (1 Nephi 1:13, 18-19). Nephi, noting that he had "dwelt at Jerusalem" also wrote of the "works of darkness" and "doings of abominations" he had observed there (2 Nephi 25:2, 6, 9-10).
Is it possible that the attempts to slay the prophets Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:23) and Lehi (1 Nephi 1:18-2:1) resulted from such a conspiracy, designed to silence those who warned that Jerusalem would fall captive to Babylon?
There is, in fact, evidence from the Bible that there was such a secret combination in Jerusalem in Lehi's time. Ezekiel, a contemporary of Lehi, writing in the year 593 B.C. (or the sixth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin--Ezekiel 8:1), saw in vision a group of seventy elders in the temple, doing things "in the dark . . . for they say, The Lord seeth us not" (Ezekiel 8:11-12). He was then shown in vision a group of 25 men living at Jerusalem. They were worshiping the sun, with their backs toward the temple (Ezekiel 8:16). When next he saw the group of 25, he was told that these "princes of the people" were the men responsible for the impending fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 11:1-13). Of particular note are the facts that (1) these men evidently thought their actions to be secret (Ezekiel 11:5), and (2) they had slain many people (Ezekiel 11:6; cf. Jeremiah 5:26-28; Ezekiel 7:23). [John A. Tvedtnes, "The Elders at Jerusalem in the Days of Lehi," in The Most Correct Book, pp. 67, 73] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 1:19; 2:13; 10:5; Alma 51:8]