- 51Now at the start of the 25th year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites, they had resolved the conflict between the peoples of Lehi and Morionton over their lands, and began the 25th year peacefully. 2However, they didn’t maintain complete peace in the land for long. Indeed, a dispute arose among the people over the chief judge Parhoron; some of the people wanted a few specific points of the law to be changed. 3But Parhoron wouldn’t allow the law to be changed. Therefore he didn’t listen to or sympathize with those who petitioned to change the law. 4As a result, those who wanted the law to be changed got angry with him and didn’t want him to be chief judge over the land any longer. As a result, a heated dispute arose about the matter, but not to the point of violence.
- 5And those who wanted Parhoron to be dethroned from the judgment seat were called kingmen, since they wanted the law to be changed to abandon the free government and establish a king over the land. 6Those who wanted Parhoron to remain as chief judge over the land adopted the name of freemen. This divided the people into two factions, with the freemen having sworn or covenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges of their religion by a free government.
- 7The dispute was settled by a vote of the people. The people’s vote came out in the freemen’s favor; and Parhoron retained the judgment seat, which caused celebrations among Parhoron’s brothers and among the people of liberty as well, which silenced the kingmen, who didn’t dare oppose the cause of freedom but were obligated to maintain it. 8Now those who were in favor of kings were of high birth, and they made it their aim to be kings. They were supported by others who wanted power to control the people. 9This was a critical time for any conflicts like this to be happening among the Nephites. Because Amalickiah had again stirred up the hearts of the Lamanites against the Nephites; and he was gathering soldiers from all over his land and arming them and preparing for war, since he had sworn to drink Moroni’s blood. 10But we’ll see that his promise was ill-advised. Nevertheless, he prepared himself and his armies to go against the Nephites in battle. 11Now his armies had been reduced in number by the many thousands who had been killed by the Nephites. But despite their great loss, Amalickiah had assembled a surprisingly large army, therefore he wasn’t afraid to come down to Zarahemla. 12Indeed, Amalickiah himself led the Lamanites. And it was in the 25th year of the judges’ rule; and it was while they were resolving their disputes over the chief judge, Parhoron.
- 13When the men who were called kingmen learned the Lamanites were coming down to battle against them, they were pleased. So they refused to go to battle, because they were so angry with the chief judge and with the people of liberty that they were determined not to participate in defending their country. 14When Moroni saw this, and also saw the Lamanites were arriving at the outskirts of the land, he was extremely angry at the refusal of the people he fought so hard to protect. Indeed, he was furious with them. 15And he sent a petition to the governor of the land expressing the people’s will, asking him to give it his attention and to give him, Moroni, power to compel the separatists to either help defend their country or be executed. 16Now he did this because his first concern was to put an end to conflicts and violent disagreements between the people. Indeed, up to that point, internal fighting had caused all their setbacks and had been their downfall. And the people approved his plan.
- 17So Moroni commanded his army to confront the kingmen, to either put down their pride and nobility by cutting them down or compelling them to take up arms and support the cause of liberty. 18The armies marched out against them, to put down their pride and nobility, and when they lifted their weapons to fight Moroni’s men, they were cut down in a slaughter. 19A total of 4,000 of those separatists were cut down by the sword. Any of their leaders who weren’t killed in battle were taken and thrown in prison, since there was no time then for their trials. 20The rest of those separatists, rather than be cut down by the sword, yielded to the flag of liberty and were compelled to raise the Declaration of Liberty on their towers and in their cities and to go to war in defense of their country. 21And so Moroni put an end to those kingmen, so there weren’t any known survivors of the kingmen. Through this he put an end to the stubborn pride of those people who claimed to have noble blood; they were brought down to humble themselves like their fellow Nephites and to fight valiantly for freedom from slavery.
- 22While Moroni was in this way putting an end to the wars and conflicts between his own people and imposing peace and preserving their civilization and organizing a defense for the war against the Lamanites, the Lamanites invaded the land of Moroni, by the seashore.
- 23Because the Nephites weren’t strong enough in the city of Moroni, Amalickiah drove them out, killing many. And Amalickiah took the city and control over all their fortifications. 24Those who fled the city of Moroni came to the city of Nephihah. The people of the city of Lehi also came together and made preparations and were ready to meet the Lamanites in battle.
- 25But Amalickiah wouldn’t allow the Lamanites to go against the city of Nephihah to battle; instead, he kept them down by the seashore, putting his men in every city to maintain and defend it. 26He went on taking many cities, including the cities of Moroni, Lehi, Morionton, Omner, Gid, and Mulek, all of which were near the eastern seashore. 27And so with Amalickiah’s leadership and superior numbers, the Lamanites had overtaken many cities, all of which were strongly reinforced using Moroni’s fortifications, which then provided strongholds for the Lamanites.
- 28Then they marched to the border of the land of Bountiful, driving the Nephites ahead of them and killing many of them. 29But there they met Teancum, who had killed Morionton and stopped his people during Morionton’s attempted departure. 30So he confronted Amalickiah while he was marching with his large army to take the land of Bountiful and the land to the north. 31But those hopes were thwarted when Teancum and his men, who were great warriors, drove them back. Indeed, every one of Teancum’s men was superior to the Lamanites both in strength and ability to fight, so they defeated the Lamanites.
- 32They attacked the Lamanites repeatedly as they retreated, killing them until it was dark. Then Teancum and his men camped at the border of the land of Bountiful; and Amalickiah camped on the beach near the seashore, where they had been forced to retreat.
- 33When it was night, Teancum and his assistant crept quietly in the dark into Amalickiah’s camp. The fatigue from fighting and the daytime heat had put them into a sound sleep.
- 34Teancum quietly entered the king’s tent and impaled his heart with a javelin. The king died immediately without waking his servants. 35Afterward, Teancum returned quietly to his own camp while his men were sleeping. He woke them up and explained all he had done. 36He then assembled his armies to stand ready in case the Lamanites were up and preparing to attack them. 37And so ended both the 25th year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites and Amalickiah’s life.
Chapter 23