- 54At the start of the 29th year of the judges, Ammoron sent a message to Moroni, asking him to exchange prisoners. 2Moroni was overjoyed at this request, since he wanted the supplies used to maintain the Lamanite prisoners for his own people; and he also wanted his own people returned in order to strengthen his army. 3Now the Lamanites had captured many women and children; but there wasn’t a woman or child among all Moroni’s prisoners, or the prisoners Moroni had captured. So Moroni resolved on a plan to obtain as many Nephite prisoners from the Lamanites as possible. 4Therefore he wrote a letter and sent it with Ammoron’s servant, who had brought his proposal to Moroni.
- Now this is what he wrote to Ammoron: 5Ammoron, I write to you a few words about this war you’ve waged against my people, which was started by your brother and you’re still determined to continue after his death. 6I want to tell you something about God’s justice and the sword of His almighty wrath, which hangs over you unless you repent and withdraw your armies back to your own lands, or the lands you inhabit, which is the land of Nephi. 7Of course, I would explain it to you if you were capable of accepting it. I would explain to you about that awful hell prepared to receive such murderers as you and your brother have been, unless you repent and withdraw your murderous aims and return with your armies to your own lands. 8But since you’ve previously rejected these things and have fought against the Lord’s people, I expect you’ll do that again.
- 9Now we are fully prepared to defend against you; and unless you withdraw your aims, you will bring down on yourselves the wrath of that God whom you’ve rejected, resulting in your complete destruction. 10And as the Lord lives, our armies will come against you unless you withdraw, and you will soon be killed. Indeed, we’ll take back our cities and lands, and we’ll maintain our religion and the cause of God. 11But I suspect I’m wasting my time telling you about these things, because I suspect you’re a child of hell. Therefore I’ll end my letter by telling you I won’t exchange prisoners unless it’s on the condition that you turn over a man and his wife and children in exchange for one of our prisoners. If you’re actually willing to do this, I will exchange. 12But if you don’t do this, I’ll come against you with my armies, and I’ll even arm my women and children; I’ll come against you, and I’ll follow you all the way into your own land, which is the land we first inherited. And it will be blood for blood, indeed, life for life. And I’ll engage you in battle until you’re annihilated. 13I’m full of anger and so are my people. You’ve tried to murder us, and we’ve only tried to defend our lives. But if you attempt to kill us again, we’ll attempt to kill you. And we’ll try to recover our lands, the lands we first inherited. 14Now I close my letter. I am Moroni; I am a leader of the Nephites.
- 15Now, when Ammoron had received this letter, he was angry, and he wrote another letter to Moroni. And these are the words he wrote: 16I am Ammoron the king of the Lamanites. I’m the brother of Amalickiah, whom you’ve murdered. I’ll avenge his blood upon you. And I’ll come against you with my armies, because I’m not afraid of your threats. 17Your forefathers treated their brothers unfairly, so much so that they robbed them of their right to govern when it rightfully belonged to them. 18Now if you lay down your weapons and place yourselves under our control, to be governed by those to whom the government rightly belongs, then I’ll have my people lay down their weapons and not carry on war any longer. 19You’ve made a lot of fierce threats against me and my people. But we aren’t afraid of your threats. 20Nevertheless, I’ll gladly agree to exchange prisoners according to your request, so I can preserve my food for my men of war. And we’ll carry on a war that will be eternal, either to bring the Nephites under our control and authority or to bring about their eternal extinction. 21As for that God whom you say we’ve rejected, we don’t know such a being and neither do you. But if it’s true that there’s such a being, then it seems likely to us that He’s made us as well as you. 22And if it’s true there’s a devil and a hell, then won’t He send you there to live with my brother, whom you’ve murdered, whom you suggest has been sent there? But these things don’t matter. 23I’m Ammoron and a descendant of Zoram, whom your forefathers seized and brought out of Jerusalem and forced into servitude. 24I’m now a bold Lamanite. And this war has been waged to avenge their wrongs and to maintain and obtain their rights to the government. And so I end this letter to Moroni.
- 55When Moroni had received this letter, he became even angrier, because he knew Ammoron knew what he wrote was a fraud. Indeed, he knew Ammoron understood what led him to this war against the Nephites wasn’t a just cause. 2And he said: I won’t exchange prisoners with Ammoron unless he abandons his intention, as I stated in my letter, because I won’t give him any more power than he already has. 3I know the place where the Lamanites guard my people, those they’ve taken prisoner. Since Ammoron refused to agree to the terms of my letter, I’ll attack them according to my words; I’ll pursue them with lethal force until they beg for peace. 4When Moroni had said these words, he had a search made among his men to locate someone who was a descendant of Laman.
- 5They found one, named Laman, who had been one of the servants of the murdered king killed by Amalickiah. 6Now Moroni had Laman and a small number of his men approach the guards who were over the Nephites. 7They were guarded in the city of Gid; therefore Moroni had Laman, and a selected small number of men, accompany him.
- 8When it was evening, Laman went up to the guards who were over the Nephites. They saw him coming and called out, challenging him, but he said to them: Don’t be afraid! I’m a Lamanite. We’ve escaped from the Nephites and they’re asleep. And look, we’ve taken some of their wine and brought it with us. 9When the Lamanites heard this, they gladly welcomed him. And they said to him: Give us some of your wine so we can drink. We’re glad you’ve brought wine with you because we’re tired. 10But Laman said to them: Let’s save our wine until we go to battle against the Nephites. But saying this just made them want to drink the wine even more. 11They said: We’re tired; so let’s drink the wine. Soon we’ll receive wine as part of our provisions, which we’ll drink before going against the Nephites. 12And Laman said to them: Do as you wish. 13They drank the wine without restraint, and the taste was to their liking; so they drank even more of it. And it was strong, having been prepared in its strength.
- 14They drank and enjoyed themselves, and before long all of them were drunk. 15Laman and his men waited until they were all drunk and in a deep sleep, then they returned to Moroni and told him what had happened. 16Now this was what Moroni had planned. Moroni had equipped his men with weapons, and he went to the city of Gid while the Lamanites were in a deep drunken sleep, and dropped the weapons inside to the prisoners, arming all of them, 17even arming the women and all of their children, including anyone who could wield a weapon. When Moroni had silently armed all those prisoners, 18even if they had awakened the drunk Lamanites, the Nephites could have killed them. 19But this wasn’t what Moroni wanted. He didn’t enjoy murder or killing, but he took satisfaction in saving his people from ruin and death. In order to avoid any injustice himself, he wouldn’t attack the Lamanites and kill them while they were drunk. 20However he had achieved his objective, since he had armed the Nephite prisoners inside the city walls and provided them with the power to control the city inside — 21then he had the men accompanying him move back a pace from them and surround the Lamanite armies. 22Now this was done at night, and when the Lamanites woke up in the morning, they realized they were surrounded by the Nephites on the outside, and that their prisoners were armed on the inside. 23So they saw the Nephites had power over them. And in these circumstances they could see it wasn’t advisable for them to fight the Nephites. Therefore their chief captains asked for their weapons; and they brought them out and dropped them at the Nephites’ feet, begging for mercy. 24Now this was what Moroni wanted. He captured them as prisoners of war and took over the city and freed all the Nephite prisoners. They joined Moroni’s army and added great strength to his army.
- 25He had the Lamanites he took prisoner begin to work on strengthening the fortifications around the outside of the city of Gid. 26When he was satisfied with the fortifications for Gid, he had his prisoners taken to Bountiful. He also had that city guarded by a very strong force. 27Despite all the Lamanites’ schemes, the Nephites kept and protected all the prisoners they had captured and defended all the ground they had retaken and advantages they had gained. 28So the Nephites again began to be victorious and reclaim their rights and privileges. 29The Lamanites attempted to surround them at night many times, but in these attempts they lost many prisoners. 30And they attempted to provide wine to the Nephites many times, to kill them with poison or by intoxication. 31But the Nephites weren’t slow to remember the Lord their God in these times of trouble. They couldn’t be taken in by their traps. They refused to drink their wine; indeed, they wouldn’t drink wine unless they had first given it to some of the Lamanite prisoners. 32In this way they were careful that no poison was given to them. Because if their wine would poison a Lamanite, it would also poison a Nephite. So they tested all their drinks. 33Now it was apparent to Moroni that they needed to retake the city of Morionton. Because the Lamanites had, through their work, fortified Morionton until it had become a very strong place of defense. 34And they were continually bringing new forces into that city, and new supplies as well. 35And so ended the 29th year of the judges’ rule.
Chapter 25