- 3In the 16th year from Christ’s coming, Lachoneus the governor of the land received a letter from the leader of the gang of robbers. This is what he wrote: 2Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, I write this letter to praise you and your people because of the firmness shown in maintaining what you believe are your rights and liberty. Indeed, you remain resolute as though supported by a god’s hand in defending what you call your liberty, property, and country. 3It seems a pity to me, most noble Lachoneus, that you’re so foolish and unwise as to think you can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who are right now ready for action and await anxiously for the command: Attack the Nephites and destroy them! 4I know of their invincible spirit, having tested them on the battlefield, and of their eternal hatred for you because of the many wrongs you’ve done to them. So if they were to attack you, they would completely destroy you. 5Therefore I’ve written this letter, signing it myself, out of concern for your well-being because of your firmness in what you believe to be right, and your noble spirit on the battlefield.
- 6Therefore I’m writing to you, asking you to surrender your cities, lands, and property to my people, rather than having them take vengeance upon you with the sword and destroy you. 7In other words, surrender to us and unite with us and become acquainted with our secret doings and become our associates, so that you can be like us, not our slaves, but our kin and partners in all our wealth. 8I swear to you: If you do this with an oath, then you won’t be destroyed. But if you don’t do this, I swear to you with an oath that next month I’ll order my armies to come down and attack you, and they won’t hold back and spare you, but they’ll kill you and cause the sword to fall upon you, until you’re all dead. 9I’m Giddianhi, the governor of this secret society of Gaddianton. And I know this society and what it does are good. We follow an ancient practice and tradition, which has been handed down to us. 10I’m writing this letter to you Lachoneus; and I hope you surrender your lands and property without bloodshed, so that my people, who have split from you because of your wickedness in keeping their rights of government from them, can regain their rights and government. Unless you do this, I’ll avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi.
- 11When Lachoneus received this letter, he was shocked at Giddianhi’s boldness in demanding control over the Nephites’ land, in threatening the people, and in claiming to avenge imagined wrongs. Their only harm was brought upon themselves by joining the wicked, despicable robbers. 12Now the governor Lachoneus was a righteous man and couldn’t be frightened by a robber’s demands and threats. Therefore he gave no attention to the letter from Giddianhi, the robbers’ governor, but he had his people call upon the Lord for strength in preparation for when the robbers attacked them. 13Indeed, he sent a proclamation among all the people to gather their women, children, flocks, herds, and all their belongings, leaving their lands behind, and gather into one place. 14He had fortifications built all around them, and he reinforced that place. He also had Nephite and Lamanite armed forces (meaning all of them also included as Nephites), look out in every direction to watch and guard against the robbers, day and night. 15He declared to them: As the Lord lives, unless you repent of all your iniquities and cry out to the Lord, there’s no way you’ll be saved from these Gaddianton robbers. 16Lachoneus’ words and prophecies were so alarming that they made everyone afraid. Therefore they made every effort to do what Lachoneus said.
- 17Lachoneus appointed chief captains to command all the Nephite armed forces in preparation for when the robbers came down out of the wilderness to attack. 18Now the overall commander was appointed to be the supreme commander of all the Nephite armed forces, and his name was Gidgiddoni. 19It was a Nephite custom, except during times of wickedness, to appoint as their chief captains those who had the spirit of revelation and the spirit of prophecy. Accordingly, Gidgiddoni, a great prophet, was appointed, and so too was the chief judge.
- 20Now the people said to Gidgiddoni: Pray to the Lord and then let’s go up into the mountains and the wilderness and attack the robbers and kill them in their own lands. 21But Gidgiddoni said to them: Heaven forbid! If we attacked them, the Lord would hand us over to them. Therefore we’ll prepare ourselves in the center of our lands and we’ll consolidate our armies. But we won’t attack them; we’ll wait until they attack us. As the Lord lives, if we do this, He will put them in our power.
- 22In the 17th year, toward the end of the year, Lachoneus’ proclamation had gone out throughout the whole land. They had taken their horses, wagons, cattle, flocks, herds, grain, and all their belongings and marched out by thousands and tens of thousands until they reached the gathering place to defend themselves against their enemies. 23And the designated place was the land of Zarahemla and the region between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Bountiful, to the line between the land of Bountiful and the land of Desolation. 24Tens of thousands of Nephites gathered together there. Now Lachoneus had them gather in the land to the south because of the great curse on the land to the north. 25They fortified themselves against their enemies and lived in one area, as a single large group. And they obeyed the words of Lachoneus, repenting of all their sins. They offered prayers to the Lord their God, asking Him to protect them when their enemies came down to attack them. 26They mourned because of their enemy. And Gidgiddoni had them make a variety of weapons, so they would be protected with armor, shields, and bucklers, according to his instructions.
- 4Toward the end of the 18th year, the robbers’ armed forces had prepared for battle and started to make sudden attacks from the hills, mountains, and wilderness areas, and from their strongholds and secret places, and began to get control of the land, both in the south and in the north. They occupied all the lands deserted by the Nephites, as well as the abandoned cities. 2But there were no wild animals or wild game in the areas deserted by the Nephites; and there was no wild game for the robbers except in the wilderness. 3The robbers couldn’t survive except in the wilderness due to a lack of food. This was because the Nephites left their lands bare, taking all their flocks, herds, and belongings, and consolidated into a single large group. 4Therefore it was impossible for the robbers to steal food, other than by engaging the Nephites in open battle. The Nephites were gathered into a single large group, and they had stored up enough supplies, horses, cattle, and flocks of every kind to survive for seven years, and during this time they hoped to drive the robbers out of the land — and so the 18th year ended.
- 5In the 19th year, Giddianhi concluded it was necessary to go up to battle against the Nephites, since there was no way for them to survive except to steal, rob, and murder. 6They didn’t dare spread out on the land in order to raise grain, fearing the Nephites would attack and kill them. So in this year Giddianhi ordered his armed forces to attack the Nephites.
- 7They came up to battle in the sixth month, and the day they came up to battle was great and terrible. They were outfitted like robbers: they had lambskins around their waists, which were dyed in blood, and their heads were shaved, and they had helmets on. The look of Giddianhi’s army, because of their armor and being dyed in blood, was threatening. 8Then the Nephite armed forces — when they saw Giddianhi’s army come into view — fell to their knees and cried out loudly to the Lord their God that He would spare them and save them from their enemies. 9When Giddianhi’s army saw this, they began to shout loudly for joy. They thought the Nephites had fallen to the ground with fear because of the terror produced by their warriors. 10But these hopes were unwarranted, since the Nephites weren’t afraid of them, but they respected God and humbly and earnestly asked Him for protection. Therefore when Giddianhi’s armies rushed upon them, they were ready to resist them; and they fought them with the Lord’s strength.
- 11The battle began in this sixth month, and it was great and terrible; indeed, the resulting slaughter was immense, so much that there had never been so much killing among all of Lehi’s people since he left Jerusalem. 12Despite the threats and oaths Giddianhi made, the Nephites defeated them, and they retreated.
- 13Then Gidgiddoni ordered his armies to pursue them to the wilderness boundary and not to spare any that fell into their hands along the way. So they chased them and killed them to the edge of the wilderness, obeying Gidgiddoni’s order. 14And Giddianhi, who had fought boldly, was chased as he ran away. Because he was exhausted from the fighting, he was caught and killed. That was how Giddianhi the robber died. 15And the Nephite armies returned to their secure location.
- The 19th year came to an end and the robbers didn’t come again to battle, then or in the 20th year either. 16In the 21st year, they didn’t start a battle, but they surrounded and besieged the Nephites. They thought that if they cut off the Nephites from their lands and surrounded them, and cut them off from the outside, they could make them surrender according to their wishes. 17Now they had appointed a replacement leader over them named Zemnarihah. Therefore it was Zemnarihah who ordered the siege to take place. 18But this was an advantage for the Nephites. Because it was impossible for the robbers to lay siege long enough to have any effect on the Nephites, because of their abundant supplies they had stored 19in contrast to the robbers’ insufficient supplies. Indeed, they had nothing for their survival except meat, which they hunted in the wilderness. 20Wild game grew increasingly scarce, so much that the robbers were starving. 21The Nephites were repeatedly attacking their armed forces — both during the day and at night — killing them by the thousands and tens of thousands. 22So Zemnarihah’s people now wanted to abandon their plan because of the great losses they experienced both at night and during the day.
- 23Zemnarihah ordered his people to abandon the siege and go to the most remote parts of the land to the north. 24Now Gidgiddoni learned of their plan and knew they were weakened from hunger and from the casualties inflicted upon them, so he sent out his armies at night to block their retreat and placed his armed forces in the direct path of their retreat. 25They did this at night and got ahead of the robbers, so on the next day, when the robbers began their journey, they encountered Nephite armed forces in both their front and their rear. 26The robbers to the south were also cut off from their retreat. All this was done at Gidgiddoni’s command.
- 27Many thousands surrendered as prisoners to the Nephites, and the rest of them were killed. 28Their leader Zemnarihah was captured and hanged from the top of a tree until he was dead. When they had hanged him to death, they cut the tree down and shouted: 29May the Lord preserve His people in righteousness and holiness of heart, so they can cut down all who attempt to kill them to gain power and join secret conspiracies, just as this man has been cut down to the ground. 30They rejoiced and shouted again together, saying: May the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob protect this people in righteousness, so long as they call on God’s name for protection. 31And they burst out as one, singing and praising God for the great thing He had done for them in preserving them from falling into their enemies’ hands. 32Indeed, they cried out: Hallelujah to the Most High God! They cried out: May the Lord God Almighty’s name be blessed, the Most High God! 33Their hearts were joyful to the point they were brought to tears because of God’s great goodness in freeing them from their enemies. They knew it was because of their repentance and humility that they were saved from everlasting destruction. 5Now there wasn’t a living soul among the Nephites who had any doubt about the words spoken by the holy prophets. They knew they must necessarily be fulfilled. 2They knew Christ must necessarily have come, because of the many signs given, fulfilling the prophets’ words. Because of the things that had already happened, they knew all the rest of the things would happen just as it had been foretold. 3So they abandoned all their sins, abominations, and whoredoms and served God diligently day and night.
- 4When they had captured all the robbers, so that not one of them escaped alive, they imprisoned them and preached God’s word to them. Those who repented of their sins and made a covenant not to murder again were freed. 5But those who didn’t make a covenant and who continued to have thoughts of murdering in secret — indeed, all those who were found threatening their fellow Nephites — were condemned and punished according to the law. 6So they put an end to those evil, secret, and despicable conspiracies resulting in so much evil and so many murders. 7The 22nd year had come to an end, and the 23rd year as well, and the 24th, and the 25th. And so 25 years had come and gone.
- 8Many things, which some would consider to be great and awe-inspiring, had taken place. However, they can’t all be written in this book. Indeed, this book can’t contain even one percent of what occurred among so many people in 25 years. 9But there are records containing accounts of everything this people did. And Nephi gave a shorter but true account. 10Therefore I’ve made my record of these things using Nephi’s record, which was engraved on the plates called the plates of Nephi.
- 11I’m making this record on plates I made myself, with my own hands. 12My name is Mormon; I was named after the land of Mormon, where Alma established the congregation among this people, the first congregation established among them after their transgression. 13I’m a follower of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I’ve been called by Him to declare His word among His people, so they can have everlasting life. 14It has become important for me, according to God’s will, to answer the prayers of those who went before, to make this record. This answers the prayers of those holy ones, 15comprising a small record of what’s happened since Lehi left Jerusalem, until now. 16Therefore I base my record from the earlier accounts of those who went before, up to the beginning of my time. 17And then I’ll add a record of what I’ve seen with my own eyes. 18I know the record I’m making is a fair, correct, and true record. Nevertheless, our language limits us from writing many things.
- 19Now I’ll bring my remarks about myself to an end and continue to give my account of what’s happened before my time. 20I’m Mormon and a pure descendant of Lehi. I have reason to praise God and my Savior Jesus Christ, for bringing our ancestors out of the land of Jerusalem — and no one knew it except Him and those He brought out of that land — and for giving me and my people so much knowledge for the salvation of our souls. 21He’s certainly blessed Jacob’s family and been merciful to Joseph’s descendants. 22And to the degree Lehi’s children have kept His commandments, He’s blessed them and prospered them as He promised. 23He will certainly return a remnant of Joseph’s descendants to know the Lord their God again. 24As surely as the Lord lives, He will gather in from the four quarters of the earth all the remnant of Jacob’s descendants who are scattered throughout the whole earth. 25He has covenanted with all of Jacob’s family, and that covenant will likewise be fulfilled when He decides it’s the right time, restoring all of Jacob’s family to know of the covenant He’s made with them. 26Then they will know their Redeemer — Jesus Christ, the Son of God — and be gathered in from the four quarters of the earth to their own lands, from where they’ve been scattered. Indeed, as the Lord lives, it will happen. Amen.
Chapter 2