- 52Now in the 26th year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites, when the Lamanites awoke on the first morning of the first month, they found Amalickiah dead in his own tent. They also saw Teancum was ready to give them battle on that day. 2When the Lamanites saw this, they were frightened; and they abandoned their plan to march into the land to the north and retreated with their whole army into the city of Mulek and the safety of their fortifications. 3Amalickiah’s brother was appointed king, whose name was Ammoron. He assumed control.
- 4He ordered his people to maintain the cities that had cost lives to occupy, and they lost a lot of lives taking every one of the cities. 5Now Teancum saw the Lamanites were determined to maintain the cities and the parts of the land they had taken. He could see their forces far outnumbered his, therefore Teancum thought it made no sense for him to attempt to attack them in their forts. 6But he kept his men surrounding them, as if preparing to attack. And in fact, he was preparing his defense against them by erecting walls on all sides and preparing fortifications.
- 7He kept preparing for battle in this way until Moroni sent a large number of men to strengthen his army. 8Moroni also sent an order for him to retain all the prisoners that surrendered and were in his custody. Now the Lamanites had taken many prisoners, and the order to retain all the Lamanite prisoners was to use them in an exchange for those the Lamanites held prisoner. 9Moroni also sent orders for him to fortify the land of Bountiful and to secure the narrow pass leading to the land to the north, so the Lamanites didn’t obtain that strategic point and have power to repeatedly attack them on every side. 10Moroni also sent him a message, asking him to be faithful in maintaining that region and to look for every opportunity to afflict the Lamanites as much as was in his power, so he could perhaps take back, by military stratagem or some other way, those cities taken from them, and to continue to fortify and strengthen the cities in the surrounding area that hadn’t fallen under the control of the Lamanites. 11He also said to him: I would come to you, but the Lamanites are gathering against us by the western sea. I’ll soon fight against them; therefore I can’t come to you.
- 12Now the new king, Ammoron, left the land of Zarahemla after informing the queen about his brother’s death. He brought a large number of men and marched against the Nephites in the area near the western sea. 13He was making an effort to exhaust the Nephites with repeated attacks and draw away part of their forces to that region. At the same time, he also commanded those left to occupy the cities that had been taken to tire out the Nephites with repeated attacks near the eastern sea and to take additional land, as much as they might be able to do, as their armies’ strength allowed. 14And so the Nephites found themselves in these dangerous circumstances at the end of the 26th year of the judges’ rule.
- 15But in the 27th year of the judges’ rule, Teancum followed the orders of Moroni. Moroni put armies in place to protect the southern and western limits of the land. He then began to march toward Bountiful, so he could assist Teancum. He planned to retake the cities they had lost. 16Teancum was ordered to attack the city of Mulek and retake it, if possible.
- 17Teancum prepared to attack the city of Mulek and went with his army to attack the Lamanites. But he saw it was impossible to overpower them while they were behind their fortifications. Therefore he abandoned his plans and returned to the city of Bountiful to wait for Moroni’s arrival, so he would have a larger force for the fight.
- 18Moroni arrived with his army in Bountiful near the end of the 27th year of the judges’ rule. 19At the start of the 28th year, Moroni and Teancum and many of the chief captains held a council of war, to decide what they could do to get the Lamanites to battle them in the open, or to coax them out of their strongholds, so they would have an advantage over them and take back the city of Mulek.
- 20They sent messengers to the Lamanite army protecting the city of Mulek, to their leader, whose name was Jacob, asking him to come out with his armies to meet them on the open ground between the two cities. But Jacob, who was a Zoramite, refused to come out with his army to fight in the open.
- 21Then, because Moroni had no hope of meeting them on an even battlefield, he decided on a plan to lure the Lamanites out of their strongholds. 22He had Teancum take a small number of men and march down near the seashore; and Moroni and his army marched at night into the wilderness to the west of the city of Mulek. And so the next day, when the Lamanite guards caught sight of Teancum, they ran and told Jacob, their leader.
- 23The Lamanite armies marched out against Teancum, expecting because of their superiority in numbers to overpower Teancum because of his small force. When Teancum saw the Lamanite armies coming out against him, he began to retreat down by the seashore, toward the north.
- 24When the Lamanites saw he began to run away, they were encouraged and vigorously pursued them. While Teancum was luring away the Lamanites who were chasing them in vain, Moroni commanded a portion of his army who were with him to march into the city and take it over. 25They did so and killed all those who had been left to protect the city, indeed, that is, any who wouldn’t give up their weapons. 26And so Moroni had taken the city of Mulek with part of his army while he marched with the rest to confront the Lamanites when they returned from chasing Teancum.
- 27The Lamanites pursued Teancum until they got near the city of Bountiful, and there they encountered Lehi and a small army left to protect the city of Bountiful. 28When the Lamanite chief captains saw Lehi with his army coming against them, they fled in great confusion, for fear they might not reach the city of Mulek before Lehi overtook them, since they were exhausted from their march, and Lehi’s men were fresh. 29Now the Lamanites didn’t know Moroni had been behind them with his army — all they were afraid of was Lehi and his men. 30Now Lehi didn’t want to overtake them until they met up with Moroni and his army. 31Before the Lamanites had retreated very far, they were surrounded by the Nephites, by Moroni’s men on the one hand and by Lehi’s men on the other, all of whom were rested and full of strength, while the Lamanites were exhausted from their long march. 32Moroni commanded his men to attack them until they had surrendered their weapons.
- 33Now Jacob, who was their leader — a Zoramite with an unconquerable spirit — led the Lamanites out to battle against Moroni with great fury. 34Because Moroni blocked their line of march, Jacob was determined to kill them and cut his way through to the city of Mulek. But Moroni and his men were more powerful; therefore they held the battle line against the Lamanites.
- 35They fought furiously on both sides, and many were killed on both sides; and Moroni was wounded and Jacob was killed. 36And Lehi attacked the back of their army with his strong men so fiercely that the Lamanites in the rear surrendered their weapons. And the rest of them, who were in a state of great confusion, didn’t know where to go or where to deliver a blow. 37Moroni, seeing their confusion, said to them: If you bring your weapons forward and surrender them, we’ll stop killing you. 38When the Lamanites had heard these words, their chief captains — all those who weren’t killed — came forward and threw down their weapons at Moroni’s feet and commanded their men to do likewise. 39But there were many who refused. Those who refused to give up their swords were taken and their hands tied; their weapons were removed from them, and they were marched under guard with their fellow Lamanites to Bountiful. 40Now the number of prisoners who were taken exceeded the number of those who had been killed, indeed, more than those who had been killed on both sides.
- 53As they guarded the Lamanite prisoners, they compelled them to gather and bury their dead, and the Nephite dead. And Moroni’s men kept watch over them as they performed their work. 2And Moroni went to the city of Mulek with Lehi and took command of the city and gave it to Lehi. Now Lehi was a man who had been with Moroni in the majority of his battles, and he was a man like Moroni. They rejoiced at seeing each other safe again; indeed, they loved one another dearly and they were dearly loved by all the Nephites.
- 3After the Lamanites had finished burying their dead and the Nephite dead, they were marched back into Bountiful. And by Moroni’s orders, Teancum made them begin working, digging a ditch around the land, or the city of Bountiful. 4He made them build a barricade of timbers on the inner bank of the ditch; they piled up dirt from the ditch against the barricade of timbers. And so they made the Lamanites work until they had encircled the city of Bountiful with a strong wall of timbers and earth to a great height. 5This city became a great stronghold from that time forward. They guarded the Lamanite prisoners in this city, inside a wall they had made them build with their own hands. Now Moroni was compelled to put the Lamanites to work because it was easy to guard them while they were working; and he needed all his forces to keep ready for an attack on the Lamanites.
- 6In this way, Moroni had gained a victory over one of the largest Lamanite armies and had taken the city of Mulek, which was one of the strongest fortified places of the Lamanites in the land of Nephi. Additionally, he had built a stronghold to continue holding his prisoners. 7He didn’t attempt to engage the Lamanites in battle again that year, but he readied his men for war, built fortifications to defend against the Lamanites, kept their women and children fed and protected, and distributed food to their armies.
- 8In Moroni’s absence there was a secret plot among the Nephites causing strong division that resulted in internal conflicts. Because of this, the Lamanite armies by the western sea to the south gained some ground over the Nephites and they took several of their cities there. 9As a result of iniquity among themselves, because of their own violent disagreements and scheming, they ended up putting themselves into dangerous circumstances.
- 10Now I have a little to say about Ammon’s people, who in the beginning were Lamanites; but because of Ammon and his companions (more correctly because of the power and word of God), they had been converted to the Lord. They had been brought down into the land of Zarahemla and had been protected by the Nephites from then on. 11Because of the oath they had made, they had been kept from going to battle against their Lamanite relatives, since they had taken an oath that they would never kill again. According to their oath, they would have died; they would have allowed themselves to fall into the hands of their Lamanite relatives if it hadn’t been for Ammon and his companions’ pity and great love for them. 12For this reason they were brought down into the land of Zarahemla, and they had always been protected by the Nephites.
- 13But when they saw the danger and the many troubles and hardships the Nephites endured for them, they felt compassion for them and wanted to go to battle and join in defending their country. 14But as they were preparing to use their weapons, they were convinced by Helaman and his brothers not to do it. Because it would require them to break the oath they had made, 15Helaman was afraid that by doing so they might lose their souls. Therefore all those who had made this covenant were left to only watch their fellow Nephites face their difficulties in this dangerous time. 16But they had many sons who hadn’t made a covenant not to use weapons to defend themselves against their enemies. Therefore those who were able to fight got together and proclaimed themselves Nephites. 17And they made a covenant to fight for the Nephites’ liberty, to protect the land, at the peril of sacrificing their lives; indeed, they covenanted they would never give up their liberty, but they would fight in all circumstances to protect the Nephites and themselves from slavery.
- 18Now there were 2,000 young men who made this covenant and took up weapons to defend their country. 19And, although they had never been a disadvantage to the Nephites up to that point, they now became a great support. They took their weapons, and they asked Helaman to lead them. 20They were all young men, very courageous, strong, and active as well. But this wasn’t the best thing about them, because they were trustworthy in anything asked of them, 21and they were truthful and serious-minded and focused, since they had been taught to keep God’s commandments and live righteously.
- 22Now Helaman led his 2,000 young soldiers to defend the people in the area to the south by the western sea. 23So ended the 28th year of the judges’ rule, etc.
Chapter 24