- 43Now Alma’s sons went out to preach the word to the people. And Alma himself couldn’t rest either, and he also went out. 2Now we won’t say anything else about their preaching except they preached the word and truth according to the spirit of prophecy and revelation, and they preached according to the Holy Order of God by which they were called.
- 3And now I’ll pick back up the account of the wars between the Nephites and Lamanites in the 18th year of the judges’ rule mentioned earlier. 4The Zoramites became Lamanites. Therefore at the start of the 18th year, the Nephites saw the Lamanites were coming to attack them. So they made preparations for war, and they gathered their armies in the land of Jershon. 5And the Lamanites came with their thousands. They entered the land of Antionum, which was the land of the Zoramites; and a man by the name of Zerahemnah led them. 6Because the Amlicites, in and of themselves had a more wicked and murderous disposition than the Lamanites, all the chief captains Zerahemnah appointed over the Lamanites were from the ranks of the Amlicites and Zoramites. 7He did this so he could inspire their hatred of the Nephites, to bring them under his control in order to accomplish his plan, 8which was to incite the Lamanites to be angry with the Nephites. He did this so he could seize great power over them, wanting power over the Nephites to enslave them, etc.
- 9Now the Nephites’ aim was to protect their lands and houses and their wives and children, to keep them out of the hands of their enemies, and to preserve their rights and privileges, and their liberty as well, so they could worship God according to their wishes. 10They knew if they fell into the hands of the Lamanites, they would kill anyone who worshiped God in spirit and in truth, the true and living God. 11They also knew of the Lamanites’ extreme hatred of their former Lamanites who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, who were called Ammon’s people. Those people refused to arm themselves; indeed, they had made a covenant and they wouldn’t break it. Therefore if they fell into the hands of the Lamanites, they would be killed. 12And the Nephites wouldn’t allow them to be killed; so they gave them land to live on. 13Ammon’s people in return gave the Nephites a large part of their supplies to support their armies. And so the Nephites had to stand alone against the Lamanites, who were a mixture of Laman, Lemuel, Ishmael’s sons, and all those who had defected from the Nephites, who were Amlicites, Zoramites, and the descendants of Noah’s priests. 14Now those who had defected were almost as numerous as the Nephites were. And so the Nephites had to engage them in conflict, knowing many would die.
- 15And when the Lamanite armies had gathered in the land of Antionum, the Nephite armies were prepared to meet them in the land of Jershon. 16The leader of the Nephites, or the man who had been appointed to be the chief captain over them who would command all the Nephite armies, was named Moroni. 17And Moroni took on the entire command and management of their wars; and he was only 25 years old when he was appointed chief commander over the Nephite armies.
- 18He met the Lamanites at the border of Jershon. His people were armed with swords, cimeters, and a variety of other weapons. 19When the Lamanite armies advanced, they saw Moroni had prepared the Nephites with breastplates and arm shields and helmets to defend their heads, and they wore thick clothing. 20Zerahemnah’s army wasn’t prepared with any such things; they only had swords and cimeters, bows and arrows, and stones and slings; and they were naked except for an animal skin that was secured around their waists; indeed, everyone was naked except for the Zoramites and Amlicites. 21Yet even they didn’t have breastplates or shields, and therefore they were very afraid of the Nephite armies because of their armor, despite far outnumbering them.
- 22Now they didn’t dare come against the Nephites at the border of Jershon. So they left the land of Antionum and traveled through the wilderness, winding through a route taking them to the head of the Sidon River, so they could come into the land of Manti and take control of the land, since they didn’t think Moroni’s armies would know where they had gone. 23But as soon as they had entered the wilderness, Moroni sent spies into the wilderness to watch their camp. And because Moroni also knew of Alma’s prophecies, he sent some men to him, requesting him to ask the Lord where the Nephite armies should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites. 24And the Lord’s word came to Alma. Alma informed Moroni’s messengers that the Lamanite armies were on the march, taking a route through the wilderness so they could come over into the land of Manti, planning to begin an attack on the weaker part of the people. And those messengers delivered the message to Moroni.
- 25Now Moroni left part of his army in the land of Jershon — fearing some of the Lamanites might somehow enter that land and take the city — and took the remaining part of his army and marched over into the land of Manti. 26He had all the people in that region of the land come together to fight the Lamanites, to defend their lands and country, their rights and liberties. Therefore they were prepared for when the Lamanites would arrive. 27Moroni had his army conceal themselves in the valley near the bank of the Sidon River, which was to the west of the Sidon River in the wilderness. 28Moroni placed spies on all sides so he would know when the Lamanite army arrived.
- 29Now, since Moroni knew the Lamanites’ ultimate purpose was to kill the Nephites or to subjugate them and bring them into slavery, in order to establish a kingdom for themselves over the whole land, 30and since he also knew the Nephites’ only desire was to preserve their lands, liberty, and congregation, therefore he saw nothing wrong with using a military strategy against them. So he used his spies to find the route the Lamanites were going to take. 31He divided his army and brought a part of it over into the valley and concealed them to the east and to the south of the hill Riplah. 32And the rest he concealed in the valley toward the west, to the west of the Sidon River, and through the area bordering the land of Manti. 33Then having placed his army according to his plan, he was prepared to meet them.
- 34The Lamanites approached on the north side of the hill, where part of Moroni’s army was hiding. 35When the Lamanites had passed the hill Riplah and entered the valley and began to cross the Sidon River, the army that was hiding on the south side of the hill, led by a man named Lehi, came out and surrounded the Lamanites on the east from behind.
- 36Then the Lamanites, when they saw the Nephites coming toward them from behind, turned around and began to fight Lehi’s army. 37And the killing began on both sides, but it was more dreadful on the part of the Lamanites, since their naked bodies were exposed to the heavy blows of the Nephites with their swords and cimeters, which killed with almost every stroke. 38On the other hand, men occasionally fell among the Nephites from wounds and blood loss, since they were shielded on the more vital parts of the body from the strokes of the Lamanites by their breastplates, arm shields, and helmets. And so the Nephites continued killing the Lamanites. 39The Lamanites became frightened because of their great slaughter, which reached a point that they began to flee toward the Sidon River. 40And they were pursued by Lehi and his men. They were driven by Lehi into the Sidon River, and they crossed it. But Lehi stopped his armies at the bank of the Sidon River, and they didn’t cross it.
- 41Then Moroni and his army met the Lamanite army in the valley, on the other side of the Sidon River. Moroni and his army began to attack and kill them. 42Then the Lamanites fled again before them toward the land of Manti, and they were met again by Moroni’s armies. 43Now in this instance, the Lamanites fought fiercely. Indeed, the Lamanites had never been known to fight with such great strength and courage, not even from the beginning. 44They were inspired by the Zoramites and Amlicites, who were their chief captains and leaders, and by Zerahemnah, who was their chief captain, or their chief leader and commander. Indeed, they fought ferociously, like true warriors. And many of the Nephites were killed, since they broke many of their helmets in two and pierced many of their breastplates, and cut off many of their arms. So the Lamanites fought in their fury. 45Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause. They weren’t fighting for monarchy or power, but they were fighting for their homes and liberty, their wives and children, and their way of life — indeed, for their rights of worship and their congregation. 46They were doing what they believed to be the duty owed to God; because the Lord had said to them and their forefathers that insofar as you aren’t guilty of the first offense or the second, you must not allow yourselves to be killed by your enemies. 47Furthermore, the Lord said that you must defend your families even to the point of shedding blood. Therefore, for this reason, the Nephites were fighting the Lamanites, to defend themselves and their families and lands, their country and rights and religion.
- 48When Moroni’s men saw the Lamanites’ fury and anger, they were about to retreat and flee from them. But Moroni, recognizing their fear, reminded and inspired them with this rally cry: Remember your lands, your liberty, and your freedom from slavery. 49And they turned toward the Lamanites and they cried out in unison to the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from slavery. 50And they held their position against the Lamanites with renewed determination. In the very same hour they cried out to the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them; and they went back all the way to the Sidon River. 51Now the Lamanites outnumbered the Nephites by more than double their number. Yet despite that, they were forced back into one compact group in the valley, on the bank by the Sidon River. 52So Moroni’s armies surrounded them, on both sides of the river, with Lehi’s men to the east. 53Therefore when Zerahemnah saw Lehi’s men to the east of the Sidon River and Moroni’s armies to the west of the river — that they were surrounded by the Nephites — they were terrified. 54Now Moroni, when he saw their terror, ordered his men to stop killing them.
- 44So they stopped and withdrew a pace from them; and then Moroni said to Zerahemnah: You can see, Zerahemnah, we don’t want to be killers. You know that you are in our hands, yet we don’t want to kill you. 2We haven’t come out to battle against you to shed your blood to get power. And we don’t want to impose slavery on anyone, either. Yet this is the very reason you’ve come against us, and you’re angry with us because of our religion. 3But now you see with your eyes that the Lord is with us. And you see He’s delivered you into our hands. Now I want you to understand this is accomplished by us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. Now you see you can’t destroy this faith of ours. 4You should realize this is the true faith of God. Indeed, you see God will support, watch over, and preserve us so long as we’re faithful to Him and to our faith and religion. The Lord will never allow us to be destroyed unless we fall into transgression and deny our faith. 5Now, Zerahemnah, I command you in the name of that all-powerful God who has strengthened our arms to give us power over you by our faith, by our religion and rights of worship and congregation, and by the sacred support we owe our wives and children, and by the liberty that binds us to our lands and country, and also by the upholding of God’s sacred word, to which we owe all our happiness, and by all that is most dear to us, 6furthermore, I command you by all your desire to live to give up your weapons to us and we’ll stop the fight, and we’ll spare your lives if you go your way and don’t come against us to war again. 7Now if you don’t do this, you are in our hands. And I’ll order my men to attack you and continue killing all of you with mortal wounds. And then we’ll see who will have power over us. We’ll see who will be sent into slavery.
- 8When Zerahemnah had heard these words, he came forward and gave up his sword, cimeter, and bow to Moroni and said to him: Here are our weapons; we’ll hand them over to you. But we won’t agree to make an oath to you that we know we’ll break, and our children as well. However, take our weapons and allow us to go away into the wilderness. Otherwise, we’ll keep our swords, and we’ll die or conquer. 9We’re not of your faith. We don’t believe it’s God who’s delivered us into your hands. But we believe it’s your clever precautions that have kept you safe from our swords; it’s your breastplates and shields that have kept you alive.
- 10When Zerahemnah had finished saying this, Moroni gave the sword and weapons he had received back to Zerahemnah, saying: We’ll continue the conflict until the end. 11Now I won’t renew the offer I’ve made. Therefore as the Lord lives, you shall not leave this place unless you leave with an oath that you won’t come back against us to war. Now as you’re in our hands, we’ll spill your blood on the ground, or you’ll submit to the conditions I’ve proposed. 12When Moroni had said these words, Zerahemnah held onto his sword. And being angry with Moroni, he rushed forward to kill him. But as he raised his sword, one of Moroni’s soldiers struck it right to the ground, and it broke at the hilt. He also struck Zerahemnah, so that he severed his scalp and it fell to the ground. And Zerahemnah retreated into the middle of his soldiers.
- 13And the soldier who stood by, who cut off Zerahemnah’s scalp, raised the scalp from the ground by the hair and placed it on the point of his sword and held it out to them, declaring to them in a loud voice: 14Just as this scalp has fallen to the ground, which is your leader’s scalp, so also will you fall to the ground unless you hand over your weapons and leave with a covenant of peace.
- 15Now there were many — when they heard these words and saw the scalp on the sword — who suddenly became afraid. So, many came forward and threw down their weapons at Moroni’s feet and made a covenant of peace. And they allowed all those who made a covenant to go away into the wilderness.
- 16Now Zerahemnah was furious. And he incited anger in the rest of his soldiers, to fight the Nephites more fiercely. 17Moroni was angry because of the Lamanites’ stubbornness. Therefore he ordered his people to attack them and kill them. So they began to kill them. And the Lamanites fought with their swords and with their strength. 18But their naked skin and bare heads were exposed to the Nephites’ sharp swords. Indeed, they were stabbed and slashed, and they fell very quickly before the Nephites’ swords. They began to be swept down, just as Moroni’s soldier had prophesied. 19Now Zerahemnah, when he saw that they were all about to die, cried out loudly to Moroni, promising if they spared the lives of the rest of them that he and his people would covenant with them never to return to war against them. 20And so Moroni again stopped the killing. And he took the Lamanites’ weapons from them. After they had made a covenant of peace with him, they were allowed to go away into the wilderness.
- 21Now their dead weren’t counted because of how many there were. Unfortunately, the number of their dead was terribly high, on the part of both the Nephites and the Lamanites. 22They threw their dead into the Sidon River, and they’ve gone downstream and are buried in the depths of the sea. 23The armies of the Nephites led by Moroni went back to their houses and lands. 24And so ended the 18th year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites. That ends Alma’s record, which was written on the plates of Nephi.
Chapter 20