- 20Now, as I was saying, after king Mosiah had done these things, he took the brass plates and everything he had kept — all the records and the Interpreters as well — and conferred them on Alma’s son Alma, and commanded him to maintain and protect them, adding to the record of the people. He was to hand them down from one generation to another, just as they had been handed down since Lehi left Jerusalem.
- 29When Mosiah had done this, he sent a message across the land, asking the people who they wanted as the next king. 2And the people voted and said: We want your son Aaron to govern as our king. 3But he had left for the land of Nephi; so the kingdom couldn’t be conferred on him. Besides, Aaron declined the kingdom anyway, and none of Mosiah’s other sons were willing to take upon themselves the kingdom, either. 4Therefore king Mosiah again sent a written message, asking: 5My people or my brothers and sisters — because I consider you to be that — I want you to think carefully about what you decide. You want to have a king. 6But I tell you that the one to whom the kingdom rightly belongs has declined and won’t assume control of the kingdom. 7Now if someone else is appointed in his place, I’m afraid that conflicts would arise among you. And who knows if my son, to whom the kingdom does belong, might become angry and draw away part of the people to follow him — causing wars and conflicts among you, which would lead to loss of life and turning away from the Lord’s way, destroying many souls. 8So let’s be wise and think carefully about these things. Because we don’t have any right to destroy my son or anyone else who might be appointed in his place. 9If my son were to go back to being prideful and to his prior foolishness, he would change what he decided and claim his right to the kingdom, which would lead in turn to many sins. 10So let’s be wise, look to the future, and do what will bring peace to this people. 11Now I’ll be your king for the rest of my days.
- Nevertheless, let’s appoint judges to judge this people according to our law, and we’ll reorganize society. We’ll appoint wise men to be judges who will judge the people according to God’s commandments. 12Now it’s better for a man to be judged by God than by man — because God’s judgments are always just, but mankind’s judgments aren’t always appropriate and fair. 13Therefore if it were possible for you to always have righteous men as your kings, who would establish God’s laws and judge this people according to His commandments, if you could always have men for your kings who would act just like my father Benjamin did for us — I tell you that if this could always be the case, then it would be fine for kings to rule us. 14I myself have labored with all my strength to teach you God’s commandments and establish peace throughout the land, so there wouldn’t be any wars, conflicts, theft, plunder, murder, or any kind of iniquity. 15And I’ve punished whoever has committed iniquity according to the crime they’ve committed and according to the law our forefathers gave us.
- 16Now I’m telling you that because not all men are just, it isn’t good for you to have kings rule over you. 17Because one wicked king causes so much iniquity to be committed and so much destruction! 18Remember king Noah, his wickedness and abominations, and the resulting wickedness and abominations of his people. What great destruction fell upon them! Because of their iniquities they were also brought into slavery. 19If it hadn’t been for the intervention of their all-wise Creator — because of their sincere repentance — they would have inevitably remained in slavery until now. 20But He rescued them because they humbled themselves before Him; because they prayed humbly to Him, He rescued them from slavery. And this is how the Lord’s power is manifest in all cases among mankind, extending the arm of mercy toward those who put their trust in Him.
- 21Now I tell you: You can’t remove an iniquitous king from power without terrible conflict, bloodshed, and killing. 22Because he has his friends in iniquity, and he keeps his guards around him, and he violates the laws of those who have ruled in righteousness before him, and he ignores God’s commandments. 23He enacts laws and forces them on his people — laws made according to his own wickedness. And he executes whoever doesn’t obey his laws. He sends armies against anyone who disobeys him; and if he can, he’ll kill them. And so an unrighteous king corrupts and perverts the ways of all righteousness. 24Now I tell you: Such abominations are avoidable.
- 25Therefore choose for yourselves judges by your vote, so that you can be judged according to the laws that have been established by our forefathers, which are good and were given to them by the Lord. 26Now it’s not common for the majority of the people to want anything contrary to what’s right, but it’s common for the minority to want what isn’t right. So you must observe this principle and make it your law, to do your business by the majority vote of the people.
- 27And if the time comes that the majority of the people choose iniquity, then that is when God’s judgments will fall upon you and He’ll cause great destruction, just like He’s done upon this land up until now. 28Now if you have judges and they don’t judge you according to the law that’s been given, you can make them be judged by a higher judge. 29And if your higher judges don’t make righteous judgments, you must cause a small number of your lower judges to convene, and they should then judge your higher judges based upon the vote of the people. 30I’ve commanded you to do these things to respect the Lord; I’ve commanded you to do these things and to not have a king, and if these people commit sins and iniquities, they will be responsible for them. 31I tell you: The sins of many people have resulted from their kings’ iniquities; therefore their iniquities are their king’s responsibility.
- 32I don’t want there to be any more inequality in this land, especially among my people. But I want this land to be a land of liberty and for everyone to enjoy their rights and privileges equally, so long as the Lord sees fit to allow us to live and to possess the land as an inheritance, and for as long as any of our descendants are on the land. 33King Mosiah wrote many more things to them, explaining all the trials and troubles of a righteous king: the worrying for his people and the people’s complaints to their king; he explained it all to them. 34He told them these things shouldn’t be like this, but the responsibility should rest on everyone and everyone should do their part. 35He also explained the disadvantages they labored under by having an unrighteous king rule over them: 36the risks of iniquities and abominations, and the wars, conflicts, slaughter, theft, plunder, whoredoms, and all kinds of sin which can’t all be named, telling them these things should be avoided by them, that they were directly contrary to God’s commandments.
- 37After king Mosiah sent this message to the people, they were convinced it was true. 38So they gave up their desire to have a king and became very eager for equality for all. And everyone said they were willing to be responsible for their own sins. 39So they assembled in groups throughout the land to vote for judges who would judge them based upon the given law. And they celebrated the liberty bestowed upon them. 40Their love for Mosiah grew — indeed, they regarded him more highly than any other man. They didn’t see him as a tyrant who was seeking power and money that corrupts the soul. He hadn’t demanded and taken their wealth from them or casually killed others, but he had established peace in the land and allowed his people to be freed from all forms of slavery. So they cherished him as a leader. 41And they appointed judges to rule over them, or to judge them according to the law, by voting throughout the land.
- 42Alma, the high priest, was appointed to be the chief judge, his father having conferred the office upon him and given him responsibility over all the congregation’s dealings. 43Now Alma walked in the Lord’s ways, kept His commandments, and passed righteous judgments. And there was continual peace throughout the land. 44And so began the judges’ rule over the land of Zarahemla among all the people who were called Nephites; and Alma was the first and chief judge.
- 45Now his father died at age 82, having lived to fulfill God’s commandments. 46And Mosiah died too, at age 63, in the 33rd year of his rule. In total, it had been 509 years since Lehi left Jerusalem. 47And that ended the rule of kings over the Nephites; and Alma’s days also ended, who was the founder of their congregation.
Chapter 13