- 23Now the king of the Lamanites sent a proclamation to all his people that they were to leave Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni alone, as well as any of their companions who were preaching God’s word, in any place they went, in any part of their land. 2He sent a decree prohibiting their arrest, or tying them up, or throwing them in prison, forbidding them from spitting on them, or beating them, or expelling them from their synagogues, or whipping them, or throwing rocks at them. Instead, they were to be given free access to their houses and to their temples and sanctuaries. 3As a result they were permitted to go out and preach the word as they wished, because the king and his whole household had been converted to the Lord. He sent this proclamation across the land to control his people so God’s word could go forth unimpeded, specifically so it would be spread throughout the land, so his people would be convinced to abandon their ancestors’ wicked traditions, and be persuaded that they were all brothers and sisters and under an obligation not to murder, rob, steal, commit adultery, or commit any evil acts.
- 4Now after the king’s proclamation, Aaron and his companions went from city to city and from one house of worship to another, establishing congregations and consecrating priests and teachers everywhere in the land among the Lamanites to preach and teach God’s word to them. They began to have great success. 5In time thousands were brought to know the Lord; thousands accepted the Nephite traditions. They were taught the recorded prophecies that had been kept until the present time. 6And as sure as the Lord lives, certainly all those who believed, or all those brought to accept the truth through the preaching, revelations, prophecy, and miracles of Ammon and his companions — indeed, I declare as the Lord lives, all the Lamanites who had been converted by their preaching to believe in the Lord never fell away. 7They became a righteous people; they laid down weapons used in rebellion, and they didn’t fight against God, or against any of their fellow Lamanites, or against the Nephites.
- 8Now this is a list of the people who were converted to the Lord: 9the Lamanites in Ishmael, 10in Middoni, 11in Nephi, 12in Shilom and in Shemlon, and those in Lemuel, and people in Shimnilom. 13These are the names of the Lamanite cities who were converted to the Lord. And all these people laid down the weapons used in rebellion — including every weapon of war — and they were all Lamanites. 14However, the Amlicites weren’t converted, except for one, and none of the Amulonites either. They hardened their hearts and persuaded the Lamanites living with them in their villages and cities to reject the message. 15We’ve listed all the cities of the Lamanites where they repented and came to the knowledge of the truth and were converted.
- 16Now the king and those people who were converted wanted to be named, to be distinguished from their fellow Lamanites. So the king consulted with Aaron and a group of their priests about a new name to take upon themselves, so they could be recognized as distinct. 17So they named themselves Anti-Nephi-Lehies, and were recognized by this name, and no longer called Lamanites. 18And they began to be very productive people and were friendly to the Nephites. Therefore they opened communication with them, and the curse from God went away.
- 24Then the Amlicites, Amulonites, and Lamanites in Amulon, Helam, and Jerusalem — in short, in the entire surrounding area — who weren’t converted and who rejected the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, were incited to anger against them by the Amlicites and Amulonites. 2Their hatred for them became extreme, so much so they began to rebel against their king, rejecting him as their king. Consequently, they armed themselves to attack the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.
- 3Now the king conferred the kingdom on his son, and he named him Anti-Nephi-Lehi. 4And the king died the very same year the Lamanites prepared for war against the people of God. 5When Ammon and his brothers and companions saw the Lamanites were preparing to kill their own people, they went to Midian. Ammon met all his companions there, and from there they went to the land of Ishmael so they could hold a council with Lamoni, and with his brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi too, about what they should do to defend themselves from the Lamanites. 6Now none of the people who had been converted to the Lord would arm themselves to fight their own people. They refused to even prepare for war, and their king also commanded them not to do so.
- 7Now this is what he said to the people about the matter: I thank God, my dear people, that our great God has, in His goodness, sent these dear Nephites to us, to preach to us and convince us about the traditions of our wicked ancestors. 8And I thank my great God that He’s given us a portion of His Spirit to soften our hearts, so that we’ve listened to these fellow Nephites. 9And I also thank God that by listening we’ve been convinced of our sins and the many murders that we’ve committed. 10I also thank God, my great God, that He’s permitted us to repent of these things, and He’s forgiven us of our many sins and murders and taken away the guilt from our hearts through the merits of His Son. 11Now, my people, since we were the most lost people and it has been all that we could do to repent of our sins and the many murders we committed and to get God to take them away from our hearts — for it took everything we could do to repent and receive God’s forgiveness — 12now, my most dearly beloved people, since God has removed our bloodstains and our swords have become clean, may we not stain our swords anymore with the blood of our brethren. 13I tell you: No, let’s not use our swords, so as to prevent any further stains from the blood of our brethren.
- I worry that perhaps if we stain our swords again, they can no longer be washed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which He will shed for the atonement of our sins. 14And the great God has had mercy on us and revealed these things to us so we wouldn’t perish. He has made these things known to us beforehand because He loves us, and He loves our children as well. Therefore in His mercy He visits us by His angels, teaching the plan of salvation to us as well as to future generations. 15Oh how merciful is God! And now, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains removed from us, and since our swords are now bright, let’s hide them away so they can remain bright, as a testimony to God on the last day — or when we’re brought to stand before Him to be judged — proving we haven’t stained our swords with the blood of our brethren since He taught His word to us and through it He has made us clean. 16Now, my people, if our brethren come to kill us, we won’t use our swords; we’ll even bury them deep in the ground, so they can be kept bright as a testimony at the day of judgment that we’ve never used them. And if our brethren kill us, we’ll go to our God and be saved.
- 17When the king had finished saying these things, and all the people were assembled, they took their swords and weapons used to kill people and they buried them deep in the ground. 18They did this precisely because it was in their view a testimony to God and to mankind that they would never use weapons again to kill people. They did this, pledging and covenanting with God that rather than killing their brethren, they would lose their own lives; and rather than take away, they would give to their fellow human beings; and rather than being idle, they would work hard with their hands. 19As you can see, when these Lamanites were brought to accept and know the truth, they were determined and would even suffer death rather than commit sin. And we saw they buried their weapons of peace — or rather, they buried their weapons of war for peace.
- 20Their brethren prepared for war and entered the land of Nephi to overthrow the king and put another in his place, and to destroy the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi there. 21Now when the people saw them coming against them, they went out to meet them and lay down on the ground in front of them and began to pray to the Lord. They were in this position when the Lamanites began to attack and kill them with the sword. 22Without meeting any resistance, they killed 1,005 of them. And we know that they’re blessed, for they’ve gone to live with God. 23When the Lamanites saw their brethren wouldn’t run away from the sword, and they also wouldn’t move to the right or left, but were willing to lie down and die while they praised God, even while being killed by the sword — 24when the Lamanites saw this, they stopped killing them. And there were many whose hearts were broken for their brethren who were killed by the sword, and they deeply regretted doing it.
- 25They threw down their weapons and refused to continue, since they were upset by the murders they had just committed. And they dropped to the ground, just like their brethren, relying on the mercy of those who were continuing the attack.
- 26The result was that God’s people increased that day by more than the number who were killed. All those who had been killed were righteous; therefore we have no reason to doubt they were saved. 27There wasn’t a wicked person killed among them, but there were more than 1,000 brought to accept the truth. And so we see the Lord uses many ways to save His people. 28Now most of the Lamanites who had done the killing of their brethren were Amlicites and Amulonites, and the majority of them followed the teachings of Nehor. 29But of those who joined the Lord’s people, none were Amlicites or Amulonites, or followed the teaching of Nehor, but they were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel. 30And so it becomes apparent that after people have been once enlightened by God’s Spirit and possess great knowledge about the requirements of righteousness and then fall into sin and transgression, they become very hardened; and the result is worse than if they never had known the truth.
- 25Now these Lamanites became still more angry because they had killed some of their own people. Therefore they swore vengeance on the Nephites. And they didn’t continue killing the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi at that time, 2but their armies went over into the area near the border of the land of Zarahemla and attacked the people living in Ammonihah and destroyed them. 3Following that, they had many battles with the Nephites, in which they were driven and killed. 4And of the Lamanites who were killed, almost all of them were descendants of Amulon and his companions, who had been the priests of Noah; and they were killed by the Nephites. 5The survivors escaped to the eastern wilderness and seized power and authority over the Lamanites. They executed many of the Lamanites by burning because of their beliefs. 6Now after having experienced so much loss and so many hardships, many of them began to remember the words Aaron and his companions had preached to them. Therefore they began to reject their ancestors’ traditions and to believe in the Lord and conclude that He protected the Nephites; and as a result, many of them were converted while in the wilderness.
- 7Then those rulers, who were the surviving descendants of Amulon, executed anyone who believed in these things. 8This martyrdom made many of their fellow Lamanites angry. So fighting began in the wilderness, and the Lamanites began to hunt the descendants of Amulon and their supporters and kill them, but some escaped to the eastern wilderness. 9And they’re hunted to this day by the Lamanites. Clearly Abinadi’s prophecy regarding the priests’ descendants was fulfilled, words he said before he suffered death by fire. 10Because he said to them: What you do with me after this will be the same fate you will suffer. 11Now Abinadi was the first executed by fire because of his belief in God. And this is what he meant, that many would suffer death by fire just like him. 12He told Noah’s priests that their descendants would cause many to be put to death in the same way he was, and they would be scattered widely and killed, as a sheep without a shepherd that’s driven and killed by wild animals. Now these words were confirmed, since they were driven, hunted, and struck down by the Lamanites.
- 13When the Lamanites saw that they couldn’t overpower the Nephites, they returned to their own land; and many of them came over to live in the land of Ishmael and the land of Nephi and joined themselves to God’s people, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. 14They also buried their weapons of war, just as their brothers had done. And they became a righteous people, and they walked in the ways of the Lord and paid attention to keeping His commandments and statutes. 15Indeed, they kept the Law of Moses, as it was suitable and proper for them to still keep it, since it wasn’t yet fulfilled. But despite the Law of Moses, they looked forward to the Messiah’s coming, because the Law of Moses symbolized His coming and they believed they were obligated to perform those outward ordinances until He came to them. 16Now they didn’t believe salvation came by the Law of Moses, but the Law of Moses supported their faith in the Messiah. So they maintained a hope through faith of eternal salvation, relying on the spirit of prophecy, which foretold things to come. 17Now Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Himni, and their companions were overjoyed at the success they saw among the Lamanites, since the Lord had answered their prayers and vindicated His word in every detail.
- 26This is what Ammon said to his companions: My brothers and friends: What great reason we have to rejoice! Could we have thought, when we started out from Zarahemla, that God would have given us such great blessings? 2Now I ask: What are all the blessings He has bestowed on us? Can you even list them? 3I’ll answer for you: Our Lamanite brothers and sisters were in darkness, indeed, in the darkest abyss. Yet how many of them have been brought to see God’s marvelous light! This is the blessing God has bestowed upon us: we’ve been made instruments in God’s hands to bring about this great work. 4Indeed, thousands of them are rejoicing and have been brought into God’s fold. 5The field was ripe. And you are blessed, because you took your sickles and reaped with your strength; indeed, you worked the whole day — and see how many bundles you have! They’ll be gathered into the storehouses, so they aren’t lost. 6They won’t be beaten down by the storm on the last day, or torn up by the tornadoes. But when the storm comes, they’ll be brought together safely, so the storm can’t reach them. And they won’t be driven by angry winds to wherever the enemy might decide to scatter them. 7Rather, they’re in the hands of the Lord of the harvest. They are His, and He’ll raise them up on the last day. 8Blessed is the name of God! Let us sing to His praise; let us give thanks to His holy name, because He brings about righteousness forever. 9Consider that if we hadn’t come up from Zarahemla, these dearly beloved brothers and sisters of ours, who have loved us in return, still would have been filled with hatred for us. And they would have been strangers to God as well.
- 10When Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron reprimanded him, saying: Ammon, I’m afraid your joy is making you brag. 11But Ammon said to him: I’m not bragging about my own strength or wisdom; but my joy is full. My heart overflows with joy, and I’ll rejoice in God. 12I know that I’m nothing; as to my strength, I’m weak. So I won’t brag about myself, but I’ll brag about God; because I can do all things using His strength. Indeed, we’ve performed many powerful miracles in this land, for which we’ll praise His name forever. 13Consider how many thousands of our brothers and sisters He has delivered from the pains of hell! They’re brought to sing redeeming love — and this is because of the power of His word given to us. Therefore don’t we have great reason to rejoice? 14Yes, we have reason to praise Him forever, because He is the Most High God and has released these fellow brothers and sisters of ours from the chains of hell. 15They were surrounded by everlasting darkness and destruction; but He has brought them into His everlasting light, indeed, into everlasting salvation. And they’re surrounded by the unmatched goodness and gift of His love. Indeed, we’ve been His instruments in bringing about this great and awe-inspiring work. 16Therefore we should rejoice! We’ll rejoice in the Lord; we’ll truly rejoice, since our joy is full; we’ll praise God forever.
- Who can rejoice too much in the Lord? Who can say too much of His great power and mercy and long-suffering toward mankind? I tell you: I can’t say the smallest part of what I feel. 17Who would have thought God was so merciful that He would rescue us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state? 18We attempted to destroy His congregation, angrily making threats. 19Then why didn’t He condemn us to an awful destruction? Indeed, why didn’t He let the sword of His justice fall upon us and doom us to eternal despair? 20My soul almost runs away, as it were, at that thought. He didn’t impose His justice on us, but instead showed His great mercy, taking us safely over the everlasting abyss of death and misery, all the way to the salvation of our souls. 21And now, my friends, what person in their natural state knows these things? I tell you: No one knows these things except for the repentant. 22Those who repent, exercise faith, do good works, and pray continually, these are the ones who are able to know God’s mysteries. These are the ones who will be able to reveal things that have never been revealed. And these are the ones who will be granted the ability to bring thousands of souls to repentance, just as it has been granted to us to bring these brothers and sisters of ours to repentance.
- 23Now, let’s remember, my friends, we told our fellow Nephites in Zarahemla: We will go up to the land of Nephi to preach to our Lamanite brothers and sisters. And they laughed and ridiculed us. 24They said to us: Do you believe you can convert the Lamanites to accept the truth? Do you think you can convince the Lamanites that their ancestors’ traditions are incorrect, as stubborn a people as they are, who enjoy shedding blood, whose days have been spent in the worst iniquity, who have followed the pathway of transgression from the start? Now, my friends, remember this is what they told us. 25And they also said: Let’s arm ourselves to fight them, to destroy them and their iniquity from the land, so they don’t overrun and destroy us. 26But, my dear friends, we came into the wilderness, not with the intent to destroy our brothers and sisters, but to possibly save a few of their souls.
- 27When our hearts were depressed and we were about to turn back, the Lord comforted us and said: Go among your brothers and sisters and endure your troubles patiently; and I’ll give you success. 28Now we’ve gone out among them, and we’ve been patient in our sufferings. We’ve suffered every deprivation; we’ve traveled from house to house, relying on the mercy of the world — not just on the mercy of the world, but on God’s mercy. 29And we’ve gone to their houses and taught them; and we taught them in their streets; and we’ve taught them on their hills; and we entered their temples and synagogues and taught them. And we’ve been thrown out, mocked, spit upon, and hit in our faces. We’ve been stoned, taken by force, tied up with ropes, and thrown in prison; and through God’s power and wisdom we’ve been set free again. 30We’ve endured every kind of difficulty, and we’ve done all this to try to save some soul. And we thought our joy would be enough if perhaps we could be the means of saving some few.
- 31Now we can look out and see the fruits of our labors. Are there only a few? I declare: No, there are many of them. And we can guarantee their sincerity because of their love for their brethren and for us. 32Indeed, they’re willing to sacrifice their own lives rather than take the life of an enemy. And they buried their weapons deep in the ground because of their love for their brethren. 33Now I ask you: Has there been such great love in the whole land? I tell you: No, there hasn’t been, not even among the Nephites. 34Because Nephites arm themselves to fight against their brothers; they won’t let themselves be killed. But how many of our converts have laid down their lives! And we know they’ve gone to their God because of their love and because of their hatred for sin. 35Now, don’t we have a reason to rejoice? Yes, I tell you, there’s never been anyone since the world began with as great a reason to rejoice as us. I’m carried away in my joy, even to bragging about God. He has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; He comprehends all things, and He’s a merciful Being, bringing salvation to those who will repent and believe in His name. 36Now if this is bragging, then I’ll brag. Because this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation and my redemption from everlasting pain and sorrow. Blessed is the name of God, who has watched over this people, a branch of Israel’s tree, who were cut from its trunk and taken to an unfamiliar place. I say: Blessed is the name of God, who’s been mindful of us, wanderers in this unfamiliar land. 37Now, my friends, we see that God watches over every people, wherever they may live; indeed, He counts His people. And His tender mercy is offered to all the earth. Now this is my joy and my great thanksgiving. And I’ll give thanks to God forever. Amen.
Chapter 14