- 11Now in the 72nd year of the judges’ rule, the arguments increased and resulted in armed conflicts throughout the whole Nephite territory. 2And it was this secret gang of robbers that led the violence and wickedness. This conflict lasted that whole year, and in the 73rd year it continued.
- 3In this year, Nephi approached the Lord in prayer, saying: 4O Lord, don’t let this people die by the sword. But, O Lord, let there instead be a famine in the land to prompt them to remember the Lord their God; and perhaps they will repent and turn to You. 5Then it happened according to Nephi’s words, and there was a great famine in the land among all the Nephites. And in the 74th year the famine continued; and the violence stopped because famine was now killing people. 6This ruin continued in the 75th year also, because a drought destroyed their crops and grain. The entire land suffered, both the Lamanites as well as the Nephites, resulting in both being struck down, dying by the thousands in the more wicked areas.
- 7Then the people realized they were about to die by famine. They began to remember the Lord who is God and began to remember Nephi’s words. 8The people began to beg their chief judges and leaders to ask Nephi: We know you’re a man of God. Therefore call upon the Lord who is God and ask Him to end this famine for us, so what you said about our destruction won’t happen. 9The judges made that request of Nephi. When Nephi saw the people changed and sincerely humbled themselves and repented, he again prayed to the Lord, saying: 10O Lord, the people have repented. And they’ve eliminated Gaddianton’s gang from them, so they no longer exist; and they’ve buried their secret plans. 11Now, O Lord, because of their humility, will You turn away Your anger and let Your anger end with the destruction of those wicked men who’ve already died? 12O Lord, please turn away Your great anger -and put an end to the drought and famine. 13O Lord, let my request persuade You to send rain upon the earth, so she can produce her fruit and her grain for the harvest. 14O Lord, You listened to me when I said: Let there be a famine to stop the killing by the sword. And I know You’ll listen to me now since You promised if the people repent, You will spare them. 15O Lord, they’ve repented because of the famine, disease, and destruction imposed on them. 16Now, O Lord, will You turn away Your anger and see once more whether they’ll serve You? And if so, O Lord, You can bless them as You’ve promised.
- 17In the 76th year, the Lord turned away His anger and caused rain to fall on the earth, and it produced her fruit in the season of her fruit. It produced her grain in the season of her grain. 18And the people rejoiced and glorified God, and the whole land was covered with rejoicing. They no longer attempted to kill Nephi; instead, they considered him to be a great prophet and a man of God, having great power and authority given to him from God. 19Now Lehi his brother was no less righteous than him. 20So the Nephites again began to prosper in the land and began to rebuild their desolate places and began to increase in numbers and spread out, until they covered the whole land, both to the north and the south, from the western to the eastern sea. 21The 76th year ended in peace; and the 77th year began in peace. And the congregation spread throughout the whole land. Most of the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, belonged to the congregation. They had great peace in the land. And so ended the 77th year. 22They had peace in the 78th year as well, except for a few conflicts about the points of doctrine taught by the prophets. 23In the 79th year, there was a great deal more conflict. But Nephi and Lehi and many of their associates, who knew about the true points of doctrine, since they had many revelations daily, preached to the people, putting an end to their disputes in that same year.
- 24In the 80th year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites, a small number of Nephite defectors, who had some years earlier gone over to the Lamanites and taken upon themselves the name of Lamanites, along with a small number who were actual descendants of the Lamanites — being stirred up to anger by those defectors — therefore they began a war with the Nephites. 25They committed murder and robbery; and then they would retreat into the mountains and wilderness, and to secret places, hiding out so they wouldn’t be caught, receiving additional defectors daily who came to join them. 26And so in a very few years they became a very large gang of robbers. They searched in order to learn all of Gaddianton’s secret plans, becoming robbers of Gaddianton.
- 27Now these robbers made great havoc, causing great destruction among both the Nephites and the Lamanites. 28It was necessary to end their work of destruction. Therefore they sent an army of strong men into the wilderness and mountains to find this gang of robbers and kill them. 29But in that same year they were driven back, all the way into their own lands. So ended the 80th year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites.
- 30As the 81st year began, they again attacked this gang of robbers and killed many of them. But they also experienced widespread losses; 31and so they again had to retreat from the wilderness and mountains back to their own lands, because of the many robbers there. 32And so ended that year.
- The robbers continued to increase and gain strength, reaching a point where they defied the entire Nephite army, and the entire Lamanite army as well. Everyone throughout the land was afraid of them. 33They raided many parts of the land and inflicted great ruin upon them; indeed, they killed many and carried away others captive into the wilderness, particularly their women and children. 34Now this great evil, which resulted from the people’s iniquity, again reminded them to remember the Lord their God. 35And so ended the 81st year of the judges’ rule. 36But in the 82nd year they again began neglecting the Lord their God. In the 83rd year, they grew worse in their iniquity. In the 84th year, they didn’t change their ways. 37In the 85th year, they got increasingly prideful and wicked. They were again ripening for destruction. 38Thus ended the 85th year.
- 12This is an example of how false and unsteady mankind’s hearts are and shows that the Lord in His great infinite goodness blesses and prospers those who trust in Him. 2It shows how, at the very time He blesses His people with expanding crops, flocks, herds, gold, silver, and every kind of valuable, sparing their lives and rescuing them from the power of their enemies, softening the hearts of their enemies, so they don’t start wars against them, and in short, doing everything for His people’s well-being and happiness, that’s when they harden their hearts, forget the Lord their God, and turn their backs on the Holy One. They do this because their lives are easy, comfortable, and prosperous. 3It shows us that unless the Lord disciplines His people using hardships, including the threats of death, terror, famine, and diseases, they forget Him. 4How foolish, vain, evil, and devilish are mankind; how quick to commit iniquity and slow to do good; how quick to follow the words of the Evil One and to set their hearts on the worthless things of the world; 5how quick to be prideful; how quick to brag and become evil; and how slow they are to remember the Lord who is God and to follow His counsel; indeed, how slow they are to let Wisdom guide them. 6They don’t allow the Lord who is God, who created them, to rule and reign over them. Despite His great goodness and His mercy toward them, they treat His advice as worthless and they refuse to let Him guide them.
- 7How insignificant are mankind; indeed, they’re even less than the dust of the earth. 8The dust of the earth obeys the everlasting God, responding to His command when told to move or divide. 9At His command, the hills and mountains tremble and quake. 10At His voice the peaks are broken up and leveled and made into a valley. 11And by the power of His voice, the whole earth shakes; 12indeed, by the power of His voice the foundations rock, right to the very core. 13If He says to the earth: Move! — then it moves. 14If He says to the earth: You must go back, to lengthen a day for many hours — then it happens. 15And so the earth goes backward, obeying His word, and it looks to people as if the sun is standing still. This is because the earth moves and not the sun. 16In addition, if He says to the waters of the sea: Be dried up! — then it is done. 17If He says to this mountain: Rise up and move over and bury that city! — then it happens. 18If a person hides a treasure in the ground and the Lord says: Let it be cursed because of the iniquity of the person who hid it! — then it will be cursed. 19If the Lord says: It is cursed to prevent anyone from recovering it from this time forward and forever! — then it will be lost from this time forward and forever. 20And if the Lord tells someone: Because of your iniquities you will be cursed forever — then it will happen. 21If the Lord says: Because of your iniquities you will be cut off from My presence — then He’ll make it so. 22And woe to anyone who hears Him say that; because it will happen to those who are committed to iniquity, and they can’t be saved. To save people from this doom, repentance has been provided.
- 23Therefore blessed are those who repent and listen to the voice of the Lord who is God, because these are the ones who will be saved. 24And may God in His infinite wisdom do whatever is required for mankind to be led to repent and do good works, so they can be restored to grace for grace based on their works. 25I want all mankind to be saved. But we realize that on that great and last day some will be rejected and driven out of the Lord’s presence, 26and condemned to endless misery, vindicating the prophecy: Those who have done good will have everlasting life, and those who have done evil will have everlasting damnation. And so it is. Amen.
Chapter 4