- 9I Zeniff was educated using the Nephite language and was familiar with the land of Nephi — the land our ancestors first inherited. I was sent as a spy among the Lamanites to investigate their forces, so our army could attack and destroy them. But when I saw what was good among them, I didn’t want them to be destroyed. 2I argued with the other soldiers in the wilderness because I wanted our leader to make a peace treaty with them. But because he was inflexible and violent, he ordered my death. But I was rescued in a bloody fight, with father fighting against father and brother against brother, until most of our army was killed in the wilderness. Those of us who survived returned to the land of Zarahemla to relate the account to the widows and children. 3I was still very eager to return to our ancestral land, so I gathered all who wanted to return to that land and traveled back again. We were struck with hunger and serious difficulties, since we failed to remember the Lord, who is God. 4However, after wandering many days in the wilderness, we camped where our fellow soldiers were killed, near our ancestral lands.
- 5I went out with four of my men and entered the city to see the king, to find out what the king thought, to learn if I could enter the land with my people and settle there peacefully. 6I went to the king and he made a pact with me that I could have the land of Lehi-Nephi and the land of Shilom. 7He also ordered his people to leave those lands, letting my people and I settle there. 8We started constructing buildings and repairing the city walls of both the city of Lehi-Nephi and the city of Shilom. 9And we began to farm the ground with all kinds of seeds: corn, wheat, barley, neas, sheum, and seeds of various fruits. And we began to increase in numbers and prosper in the land. 10Now king Laman, in his clever fraud, provided the land for us to live on while planning to make my people his slaves.
- 11After we had lived there for 12 years, king Laman began to grow uneasy fearing my people were getting too strong for his plan to overpower them and enslave them. 12Now his people were lazy and worshiped idols. Therefore they wanted to enslave us so they could take the things we produced and feed themselves from the flocks we raised.
- 13So king Laman began to provoke his people to get them to attack us; as a result, there were wars and conflicts. 14Then in the 13th year of my rule in the land of Nephi, south of Shilom, while my people were watering and feeding their flocks and farming their lands, a large Lamanite army attacked and started killing them. They stole from their flocks and grain. 15All who survived fled directly to the city of Nephi, entering the city and asking me for protection.
- 16So I armed them with bows, arrows, swords, cimeters, clubs, slings, and any kind of weapon we could think of. Then my people and I went to fight against the Lamanites, 17asking God to be with and strengthen us. My people and I humbly appealed to the Lord, asking that He would deliver us from our enemies, since we were reminded of our ancestors’ deliverance. 18God heard our appeal and answered our prayers, and we went to battle in His strength against the Lamanites. We killed 3,043 of them in one day and night, until we had driven them out of our land. 19And I helped bury their dead with my own hands. But 279 of our brothers were killed, to our great sorrow and mourning.
- 10Then we fortified the kingdom and lived peacefully in the land. And I had every kind of weapon made, so that I could arm my people whenever the Lamanites came back up to attack us. 2I also set guards all around the land so the Lamanites couldn’t mount a surprise attack and kill us. This is how I guarded my people and my flocks and kept them from falling into our enemies’ hands.
- 3We occupied our forefathers’ land for many years — 22 years to be exact. 4I assigned the men to farm and raise all kinds of grain and fruit. 5And I assigned the women to weave, and work patterns of fine linen and cloth, to produce quality clothing for the people to wear. And so we were comfortable and had stable peace in the land for 22 years.
- 6Then king Laman died, and his son replaced him. He started provoking his people to be hostile to my people. As a result, they got ready for war and prepared to attack us. 7But I had spies inside of Shemlon to learn about their preparations and put together a defense, so they couldn’t attack unexpectedly and destroy us.
- 8They approached from north of the land of Shilom with their large armies — men armed with bows, arrows, swords, cimeters, stones, and slings — with their heads shaved clean and wearing a leather cloth around their waists.
- 9I had the women and children hide in the wilderness for their safety. Any of the men, young or old, who could fight were gathered for battle against the Lamanites. I put them in ranks, based on age.
- 10Then we engaged in battle against the Lamanites — even though I was old, I fought too. We were fighting with the Lord’s strength on our side.
- 11Now the Lamanites didn’t know anything about the Lord or the Lord’s strength; therefore they depended on their own strength, but still they were strong men. 12They were wild, ferocious people, eager to kill. They believed their ancestors’ tradition, which is this: They were driven from the land of Jerusalem because of their forefathers’ sins and offenses there. Then, their brothers mistreated them in the wilderness, and again while crossing the sea, 13and they were oppressed while in their original inheritance after crossing the sea. But the truth is that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the Lord’s commandments. Therefore the Lord blessed him, since the Lord heard his prayers and answered them. That resulted in him taking the lead in their journey in the wilderness. 14And Nephi’s brothers were furious with him because they didn’t understand how the Lord works. They were also furious with him on the sea because they hardened their hearts against the Lord. 15They were also angry with him once they arrived in the promised land because they claimed he had wrongly asserted authority over the people taking it away from them; therefore they tried to kill him. 16They were also furious with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, taking the records engraved on the brass plates — so they said he robbed them. 17Therefore they taught their children to hate, murder, rob, and plunder them, and to do all they could to destroy them. They have an eternal hatred for the children of Nephi. 18And because of this, king Laman has — by his sly, devious lies and tempting promises — deceived me, so that I led my people up into this land, and now they want to destroy them. We’ve suffered here for many years.
- 19After explaining this to my people about the Lamanites, I Zeniff urged them to go to battle with all their strength, putting their trust in the Lord. So we fought with them face to face. 20And we drove them again out of our land. We killed a great number of them, but this time we didn’t count them.
- 21And we returned to our own land, and my people returned to tend their flocks and farm their land. 22Then, since I was old, I conferred the kingdom upon one of my sons; so I end my record. And may the Lord bless my people! Amen.
Chapter 6
THE RECORD OF ZENIFF
The earlier account of his people from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until they were freed from Lamanite control.