Jeffersonian Book of Wars and Dissensions

--------------------Chapter 1--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 43

The account of the people of Nephi, and their wars and dissensions in the days of Helaman, according to the record of Helaman, which he kept in his days.

1 After the sons of Alma the Younger went to go teach morality, Alma the Younger decided he himself could not stand by while his sons taught, so he went and taught morality as well.

2 They taught morality while the Nephites and the Lmanites waged war in the 18th year of the reign of judges.

3 The Zoramites aligned themselves with the Lamanites at the start of the 18th year.

4 At this time the Lamanites began to attack the Nephites, so the Nephites prepared for war and gathered their armies in the Land of Jershon.

5 The leader of the Lamanite army, Zerahemnah, moved thousands of soldiers into the land of Antionum, which was the land of the Zoramites.

6 The Amalekites were an especially immoral and murderous group of Lamanites.

7 Zerahemnah knew this and promoted them as chief captains over the Lamanite armies, which were chiefly Amalekites and Zoramites.

8 He did this so that the hatred for the Nephites would not faulter and they would accomplish their goal of destroying the Nephites or die.

9 Zerahemnah wanted the Lamanites to hate the Nephites with all their being.

10 He knew if he could refine the Lamanite's hatred he could control them.

11 His goal was to enslave the Nephites.

12 The goal of the Nephites was very simple: protect their lands, homes, wives, children, way of life, and liberty from the attacking Lamanites.

13 The Nephites knew how much the Lamanites hated the Ammonites, who were once Lamanites.

14 The Ammonites promised they would never weild another weapon after they turned away from their murderous lifestyle.

15 The Nephites were determined to protect the moral Ammonites.

16 The Ammonites gave as many provisions as they could to the Nephites to help the armies protect them instead of fighting.

17 The Lamanites consisted of the descendants of Laman, Lemuel, and Ishmael.

18 They also consisted of dissenting Nephites such as the Amalekites (followers of Nehor), Zoramites, and Amulonites (followers of the priests of Noah).

19 The Lamanites and the Nephites had many citizens and had about equal populations.

20 The Lamanite armies gathered in the land of Antionum and the Nephite armies gathered in the land of Jershon for battle.

21 The chief captain of the Nephite armies was named Moroni, who was only 25 years old.

22 He armed the Nephites with bows, arrows, swords, scimitars, clubs, slings, and any other weapon they could make.

23 He also had them wear breastplates, arm shields, helmets, and wear thick clothing to protect themselves from swords and arrows.

22 He met the Lamanites at the border of the lands of Jershon and Antionum.

23 When the Lamanites and Nephites met for battle, Zerahemnah did not expect the Nephites to wear armor.

24 The Lamanites had similar weapons, but it was customary for the Lamanites to wear very little clothing into battle.

25 The only ones that had any armor were the dissenting Nephites.

26 The Lamanites were scared to go to battle when they saw the Nephites would be harder to kill.

27 The Lamanites decided to leave the Land of Antionum and go through the lands of Ishmael and Siron to take posession of the Land of Manti along the river Sidon with the element of surprise.

28 As Moroni saw the Lamanite armies leaving, he sent spies to track their movements.

29 Moroni, who greatly admired the leadership of Alma the Younger, asked his opinion on where the Lamanites would go.

30 Alma the Younger sent word back to Moroni that he believed that they would take the Land of Manti, which was weakly fortified.

31 Moroni left a portion of the Nephite army in the Land of Jershon in case the Lamanites returned to those borders, but moved the rest of the army towards the Land of Manti.

32 Moroni alerted those living in Manti that they should prepare for battle against the Lamanites to defend their lands, homes, wives, children, way of life, and liberty

33 Moroni had the Nephite armies hide in a valley near the west bank of the river Sidon in the narrow strip of wilderness on the border of the Land of Manti.

34 While they waited, Moroni sent out scouts to see where the Lamanites were and where they were going.

35 Moroni decided to divide his army again. Some would remain in the valley and some would hide on the northern side of the hill Riplah.

36 The Lamanites fell right into the trap that the Nephites had set.

37 The Lamanites headed down the river Sidon to capture all of the Land of Manti, when they were attacked by the Nephites near the hill Riplah.

38 The Nephite who was leading this part of the army was named Lehi.

39 Lehi took his troops and surrounded the Lamanites to the north.

40 When the Lamanites tried to escape, they found that the remaining Nephites had surrounded them to the south.

41 The Lamanites decided to try to escape by battling Lehi's army.

42 There were many Lamanite and Nephite casualties, but the Lamanites were unsucessful in their escape.

43 However, due to the Lamanites' lack of armor, they suffered many more casualties than the Nephites.

44 The Lamanites were scared at how easily they were losing, and tried to use the river Sidon to escape.

45 Lehi and his army pursued them and prevented their escape.

46 Moroni took his portion of the Nephite army and followed the Lamanites to continue the battle.

47 When the Lamanites saw that they were surrounded, they tried to escape into the Land of Manti, but they were pursued and stopped by Moroni.

48 The Lamanites fought Moroni's army with great strength and courage in the face of death.

49 There had never been a group of Lamanites that was so courages and strong.

50 They had been inspired by the Zoramites and the Amalekites who were their chief captains and leaders, and by Zerahemnah who was their chief captain.

51 They fought like dragons and many of the Nephites were slain by their hands.

52 The Lamanites discovered that the Nephite helmet was weak, and attacked it.

53 They used all their strength to pierce the Nephite breastplates.

54 They sliced off many Nephites' arms.

55 The Lamanites used anger and rage in their battle.

56 The Nephites had a more moral cause for fighting than power or a monarch.

57 The Nephites fought to defend their lands, homes, wives, children, way of life, and liberty.

58 They felt a duty to protect these things.

59 They were willing to lay down their lives to protect these things which were precious to them.

60 However, when Moroni's army saw the vigor, fierceness, anger, and rage of the Lamanites, they became scared.

61 Moroni could see the morale of his soldiers falling, and so gave them a speech.

62 He inspired them and reminded them of the moral things they are fighting to defend.

63 The Nephites let out a war cry to the Lamanites as they met again in battle.

64 The battle was short, and the Lamanites fled to the river Sidon.

65 There were more than twice the amount of Lamanites as Nephites in these armies in this valley on the banks of the river Sidon.

66 The Nephites surrounded the Lamanites on both sides of the river.

67 Moroni's army was on the west of the bank, and Lehi's army was on the east.

68 The Lamanites saw that they were surrounded and would not be able to prevail, and were terrified for their lives.

69 When Moroni saw this terror in even Zerahemnah, he commanded the Nephites to no longer kill the Lamanite soldiers.

--------------------Chapter 2--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 44

1 The Nephites allowed the Lamanites to gather and have a little space to themselves.

2 Moroni then said to Zerahemnah:

	3 "Zerahemnah! We do not wish to kill you!

	4 We hold your lives in our hands, but we do not wish to take them.

	5 We did not want to fight you in the first place.

	6 The only reason why we Nephites are here is to defend ourselves.

	7 We do not even wish to enslave you.

	8 We know you hate us because of our moral way of life.

	9 You can now see how when we work togehter we are able to overcome anything.

	10 This is because of the moral lifestyle we live.

	11 We will defend each other to the last breath.

	12 I command you in the name of the Nephites to lay down your arms and surrender.

	13 We will spare your lives if you take an oath that you will go back to your land and never attack us again.

	14 Remember, your lives are in our hands.

	15 If you do not accept our terms and conditions of surrender, we will continue our battle and defeat you by force."

16  When Zerahemnah heard what Moroni had said, he had his army give up their bows, arrows, swords, scimitars, clubs, slings, and all other weapons.

17 He said to Moroni:

	18 "Here are our weapons of war, but we will not accept your oath because we know we will break it.

	19 Let us go back to our land or give us our weapons back so we can die in battle.

	20 We don't believe it was by working together that has lead you to victory.

	21 We beleive it is because of your armor."

22 When Zerahemnah had said these things, Moroni gave them their weapons back and said to him:

	23 "We will end this conflict now through war.

	24 The terms and conditions I laid out were fair and merciful, but you would not take the oath.

	25 I have warned that your lives are in our hands, and that we did not want to take them, but we will if we must."

26 Zerahemnah was angry with Moroni and charged toward him with his sword to kill him.

27 As Zerahemnah raised his sword, one of Moroni's soldiers stopped it with his own sword and broke Zerahemnah's sword's hilt.

28 He scalped Zerahemnah, who then retreated into his own solders.

29 The Nephite solder took the scalp off the ground with the tip of his sword and said to the Lamanites with a loud voice:

	30 "This is the scalp of your chief captain!

	31 Your fate will be the same as his unless you give up your weapons and committ to the oath that Moroni has offered!"

32 After the Lamanites saw this, there were many that were struck with such fear that they did as the Nephites ordered.

33 Many took the oath and went back to their own lands.

34 Zerahemnah was angry with Moroni, and rallied many to stay and fight.

35 When those that had wished to take the oath had left, the Nephites and Lamanites once again waged war with one another.

36 Because the Lamanites were practically naked and had no armor, they were easily defeated.

37 Zerahemnah once again feared for his life and begged Moroni to stop the war, which he did.

38 Moroni took the weapons of war from the Lamanites who then entered into the oath that was given to them.

39 There were too many fallen soldiers to count for both the Lamanites and the Nephites.

40 The dead were thrown into the river sidon, and the bodies were washed out to sea.

41 The Nephite armies went back to their homes and families.

42 This ended the 18th year of the reign of the judges.

--------------------Chapter 3--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 45

1 The Nephites celebreated their victory over the Lamanites.

2 Their hearts were filled with joy that they were safe.

3 In the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges, Alma the Younger came to his son Helaman and said to him:

	4 “Do you believe what I said to you about the records that our family has kept?

	5 Do you believe that it is important to live a moral life?

	6 Will do do what I have asked of you?

7 Helaman told him he beleived all the things his father had said, and would do what his father asked of him.

8 Alma the Younger was filled with joy, and said:

	9 "You will live a good, long, and moral life in this land.

	10 I am worried that there may come a time when the Nephites no longer live moral lives like you have resolved to do.

	11 I am worried they will teach their children, our descendants, to live a dark, lascivious, and immoral life as they do.

	12 I am worried we will start to see more dissensions, as we have seen with the Amalekites, Zoramites, and Amulonites.

	13 I am worried that by not living in harmony together, they will bring wars, pestilences, famines, and death upon themselves until there are no more Nephites."

14 After Alma the Younger had said these things, he told his sons he loved them and to help the Nephites live moral lives.

15 He reminded them that if they live moral lives, they will prospoer in the land, but if they do not, they will not prosper.

16 After Alma the Younger said these things, he left the Land of Zarahemla to travel to the Land of Melek.

17 However, Alma the Younger was never heard from again.

18 His death and whereabouts were never discovered.

19 We do know this: He was a moral man.

20 The word spread among the Almakites saying that he will leave a good legacy behind.

21 At the start of the 19th year of the reign of judges, Helaman, the oldest son of Alma the Younger, went and taught morality to the Nephites.

22 He saw the wars with the Lamanites and the many little dissensions and disturbances which had been among the Nephites.

23 Because of this, he wanted to have a teacher of morality in every city in the Republic of Zarahemla.

24 He helped many people become teachers of morality throughout the Republic of Zarahemla.

25 After Helaman and many others had helped teach morality to the people, there began to be a dissension.

26 This dissension were full of pride because of their riches, and refused to live a moral life as Helaman and other teachers had taught.

--------------------Chapter 4--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 46

1 Those that dissented angrily gathered together and determined that they wanted to kill the Almakites.

2 The leader of these people was a large and a strong man named Amalickiah.

3 Amalickiah wanted to be a king, and those who followed him also wanted him to be a king.

4 Many of the lower judges also wanted him to be a king.

5 They ignored the moral teachings of Helaman and the other teachers of morality and listened to the flattering words of Amalickiah.

6 The Nephites were practically on the brink of civil war.

7 The Nephites had quickly forgotten morality, and were enticed by the false promises of a selfish and immoral man to the point where they would do anything for him.

8 Amalickiah sought to destroy the foundation of liberty which had been established by King Mosiah the 2nd when he reorganized the kingdom into a republic.

9 Moroni, the chief captain of the armies of the Nephites, was especially distraught and angry with Amalickiah and those that dissented with him.

10 He tore his coat to make a flag that said “In memory of our morality, way of life, freedom, peace, spouses, and children” and attached it to a pole.

11 He put on all of his battle armor, including his helmet, breastplate, and shields, while weilding the flag he called "The Title of Liberty".

12 He meditated on how he could keep liberty in the land.

13 He wanted the Nephites who believed in liberty, such as the Almakites, Mulekites, Zeniffites, and Ammonites, to have their liberty and freedom.

14 He wanted the Lands of Bountiful as well as the Republic of Zarahemla to be lands of liberty.

15 Moroni said to himself:

	16 "We live moral lives, and we will not lose our liberty if we work together."

17 Moroni went among his people and waved The Title of Liberty and yelled to the people:

	18 "All who believe the words of the title of liberty, let them come and swear to defend it!"

19 When Moroni had said these things, many people ran to put on their armor to defend their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, spouses, and children.

20 They all tore their clothes as a sign that they would be torn apart like their clothes if they did not work together.

21 Moroni said to those that had gathered:

	22 "We swear an oath that we will be destroyed like those in the land northward if we do not work together.

	23 Our ancestors endured many hardships because of their brothers.

	25 Their clothes were shredded, they were thrown into prison, sold into slavery, and killed.

	26 Let us learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and stand up against this tresspass of liberty!

	27 Remember the words of our ancestor Jacob before he passed away:

		28 'Preserve yourselves! Those that seek to destroy you will destroy themselves.

		29 It saddens me that people seek to destroy, but there is hope if you preserve yourselves, because you will leave behind a good legacy.'

	30 We will not be the destroyers, we will be the ones preserving ourselves and our birthright of morality!"

31 After Moroni had said these things, he went and gathered those who stood for liberty and went to the dissenting lands to stand against Amalickiah and his followers.

32 When Amalickiah saw that those who opposed him were more numerous than thiose that supported him, his supporters began to doubt his ability to lead.

33 Amalickiah feared losing his power, so he had his followers follow him into the Lamanite kingdom.

34 Moroni did not want the Lamanites to have any more strength, so he cut them off from going to the Lamanite kingdom.

35 Moroni knew that if Amalickiah had joined the Lamanites, he would make the Lamanites so angry that they would wage war on the Nepites once again.

36 If this happened, Amalickiah could take advantage of the political instability and achieve his goal of being King of the Nephites.

37 Moroni wouldn't let this happen and needed to stop Amalickiah and put him on trial for treason, for which the punishment was death.

39 Moroni marched his armies that had taken an oath to defend their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, spouses, and children and cut off Amalickiah from entering the Lamanite kingdom.

40 Many were captured and taken back to the Land of Zarahemla, but Amalickiah and a few men managed to escape.

41 Moroni was appointed by the chief judge of the Nephites to carry out justice.

42 Moroni gave all the captured the opprotunity to turn away from their desire to have an immoral king and government.

43 Many chose to, and they were set free. There were only a few that did not.

44 Those that did not were traitors to the Republic of Zarahemla and were put to death.

45 Moroni had a day of rememberence and victory comemorated by raising The Title of Liberty above every tower in the Republic of Zarahemla.

46 There was peace in the land again until the end of the 19th year of the reign of the judges.

48 There came a sickness that went around the people during this time, and several people died from it.

49 However, many people were able to be healed because of the knowledge of mediceine that doctors had.

50 Most of those who died were rather infants or elderly.

--------------------Chapter 5--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 47

1 As Amalickiah and a few of his followers fled from Moroni into the wilderness, he found his way into the Lamanite kingdom.

2 As Moroni had predicted, he made the Lamanites angry enough to want to go to war with the Nephites.

3 The King of the Lamanites sent out a proclamation throughout his kingdom that they should all gather to go to war against the Nephites.

4 When the Lamanites heard the proclamation, they were afraid.

5 They did not want to displease the king but they also did not want to go to war. They feared for their lives in both circumstances.

6 The majority of the Lamanites decided they would not obey the king.

7 The king was angry with their disobedience.

8 He gave Amalickiah the command of the loyal Lamanite army and told him to force compliance among the Lamanites.

9 Amalickiah was a very immoral man, and intended to use his new-found power to dethrone the Lamanite king.

10 He had power over the rebel Lamanites with the loyal Lamanites.

11 He wanted to use this power to gain favor in the eyes of the rebel Lamanites, so they would help him achieve his coup.

12 Amalickiah went to the City of Onidah, which is where the rebel Lamanites fled to when they heard that the army was coming to force them to comply or kill them.

13 They had appointed a man to be their new king, as they were determined not to go to war with the Nephites.

14 The rebel Lamanites gathered together at the top of Mount Antipas to prepare for battle against Amalickiah and his army.

15 Amalickiah had his soldiers pitch their tents at the base of the mountain.

16 Amalickiah had no intention of going to battle with the rebels, despite what the Lamanite king had ordered.

17 He wanted to gain the trust of the rebel Lamanites so that he could become their king and take over all of the Lamanite kingdom.

18 That night he sent a messenger to the top of Mount Antipas asking the rebel King Lehonti to come to his camp to talk.

19 King Lehonti recieved the message, but dared not do as he was asked.

20 Amalickiah tried a 2nd and 3rd time, but the answer from King Lehonti was always the same.

21 Amalickiah realized that he would not be able to get King Lehonti to come down from the mountain, so he himself went to the top of the mountain near the rebel camp.

22 He sent a messenger a 4th time to King Lehonti and told him he could have his army if he made Amalickiah his 2nd in command.

23 Before dawn, King Lehonti came down with his army and surrounded Amalickiah's army.

24 Amalickiah's army was scared for their lives, and begged him not to let them die.

25 Amalickiah's plan was working perfectly. He seemed to have been defeated, without letting others know it was a surrender or a coup.

26 He surrendered his men to King Lehonti, and Amalickiah was made his 2nd in command.

27 The Lamanites had a custom to make the 2nd in command the chief leader if the chief leader was killed.

28 This is why Amalickiah had one of his men poison King Lehonti.

29 When King Lehonti was poisoned and dead, the rebel Lamanites appointed Amalickiah to be their new king.

30 Amalickiah marched with the rebel Lamanites that he had gained the favor of to the City of Nephi in the Land of Nephi, which was the capital of the Lamanite kingdom.

31 The Lamanite king came out to meet Amalickiah with his guards full of joy that Amalickiah had accomplished his goal of getting the rebel Lamanites to fight the Nephites.

32 Amalickiah sent soldiers to go and meet the king and revere him.

33 The king put out his hand to shake the soldiers' as a sign of peace, as was customary with the Lamanites and Nephites.

34 When the king was putting out his hand, a rebel Lamanite stabbed the king in the heart who then fell to the ground.

35 The king's guards fled out of fear of being killed as well and the soldiers of Amalickiah yelled:

	36 "The king's guards have stabbed him and ran away! Come and see!"

37 Amalickiah had all of his armies see what happened to the king.

38 He pretended to be angry and declared:

	39 "If you loved the king, go and capture his guards so we can kill them to get justice.”

40 When the king's guards saw Amalickiah's army approaching, they were frightened again.

41 Amalickiah's army was unable to catch the guards, because they ran to the Republic of Zarahemla for asylumn, and joined the Ammonites.

42 Amalickiah was able to win the hearts and minds of all the Lamanites.

43 He entered the city of Nephi and told the widowed queen of the fate of her husband.

44 She begged Amalickiah for mercy for the people in the City of Nephi.

45 she also wanted witnesses to speak about the death of the king.

46 Amalickiah had the soldier that killed the king perpetuate the lie to the queen to her face.

47 The queen was satisfied about the death of her husband.

48 Amalickiah lusted after the wife, and courted her until she married him.

49 And with that, Amalickiah gained control over the kingdom.

50 He was the rightful king of the Lamanites.

51 These Nephite dissenters that followed Amalickiah were instructed in the ways of morality no differently than any other Nephite.

52 These dissenters became more wild, immoral, and ferocious, than any of the Lamanites

53 They drank alcohol to excess constantly, which lead to them being lazy and entirely forsaking morality.

--------------------Chapter 6--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 48

1 As soon as Amalickiah had obtained the kingdom, he began to inspire the hearts of the Lamanites to hate the Nephites.

2 He appointed his own teachers to speak against the evils of the Nephites, which were all lies.

3 At the end of the 19th year of the reign of the judges among the Nephites Amalickiah had achieved his goal of becoming a king.

4 However, being king of the Lamanites was not enough. He wanted to be king of both the Lamanites and the Nephites.

5 He re-galvanized the Lamanite's hatred against the Nephites and angered them to the point of war.

6 He was power hungry and determined to be a king of all, and was convinced that the Lamanite army was large enough to accomplish this goal and make the Nephites slaves.

7 He appointed Zoramites to be his chief captains, because they were familiar with the strength of the Nephites as well as their military tactics and weaknesses.

8 The Lamanites moved towards the Land of Zarahemla.

9 While Amalickiah was ascending to the throne, Moroni had been preparing the Nephites for an all-out war against the Lamanites.

10 He trained the armies of the Nephites and built small fortifications.

11 He created mounds of dirt around the fortifications to protect his armies.

12 He protected the Nephite cities and lands by putting walls of stone around them.

13 In their weakest fortifications he placed a larger number of soldiers.

14 He did this to protect their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, wives, and children.

15 Moroni was a strong, mighty, and wise man who hated killing.

16 Instead of finding joy in killing, he found joy in protecting and freedom.

17 He was a man of liberty, and believed all his people deserved it and worked tirelessly for the welfare and safety of his people.

18 He was a man of obility who had sworn an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his way of life, even if it meant his death.

19 The Nephites were were trained to defend themselves against their enemies, even if it meant defending themselves with the sword.

20 They were taught never to raise a weapon unless it was to preserve their lives.

21 They believed this was an intregal part of their practice of morality.

22 They believed that if they fought togehter, they would prosper in the land.

23 They would warn each other of danger, help each other in battle, and defend one another.

24 Moroni's heart was delighted by the Nephite's willingness to protect one another and willingness to live moral lives.

25 He was sad that they had to do so with force though.

26 If everyone was as moral as Moroni, the world would be a wonderful place.

27 He was as moral as the Ammon and the other sons of King Mosiah the 2nd, as well as Alma the Elder and Younger and his sons. They were all moral men.

28 Helaman and the other sons of Alma the Younger were also moral men. They taught morality everywhere they went.

29 They went among the Nephites and were loved by them.

30 They helped the Nephites be conflict-free among themseves for 4 years.

31 At the end of the 19th year of the reign of the judges, they were compelled to fight against the Lamanites.

32 The Nephites would be at war with the Lamanites for many years, despite the Nephites' wishes.

33 They didn't want to wage war and hated taking lives.

34 However, they would not tolerate morality, way of life, freedom, peace, wives, and children being destroyed by those they considered brothers and sisters.

35 They hated that their brothers and sisters loved killing nephites.

--------------------Chapter 7--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 49

1 On the 10th day of the 11th month of the 19th year, the Lamanites were seen attempting to achieve their goal to take the Land of Ammonihah.

2 However, Moroni had rebuilt and fortified the borders and city with walls and mounds of dirt and stationed troops in the land.

3 The City of Ammonihah had to be partially rebuilt when the Lamanites had attacked before.

4 The Lamanites were attacking ehre because they believed it was a weak target.

5 The Lamanites were very disappointed when they discovered that the Nephites made it so fortified that their arrows were useless against the city.

6 The city also couldn't be charged, because there was only one entrance and exit.

7 The Lamanite captains were astonished by the military wisdom of the Nephites.

8 The Lamanites assumed that because they had greater numbers they would be sucessful.

9 They had learned from previous encounters to weild shields and armor when fighting the Nephites, but never expected this level of defense.

10 Moroni developed these tactics of defense that had never been seen among the Lamanites or the Nephites.

11 If King Amalickiah had personally lead the army, he would have had his armies storm the fortress cities, because he had no concern for the lives of his own soldiers.

12 Luckily, King Amalickiah was not present.

13 The Lamanite captains dared not attack the fortess city of Ammonihah.

14 The Lamanites departed into the wilderness to attack the Land of Noah, assuming it would be an easily victory.

15 The Lamanites didn't know that Moroni had instructed every city to fortify itself in the same way the City of Ammonihah was fortified.

16 The Lamanites marched toward the Land of Noah determined to destroy the whole city.

17 The Lamanite captains even sore an oath that they would kill everyone in the city.

18 They were shocked that the city that was once weak had become a fortess as well - even moreso than the city of Ammonihah.

19 Moroni was a wise military leader.

20 He knew the Lamanites would not want to attack the City of Ammonihah, and would likely go to a surrounding land's city to attack it instead.

21 Noah was known for being a particularly weak land, and was almost certainly going to be the Lamanites' next target.

22 Moroni appointed Lehi to be the captain of the soldiers in that city.

23 This was the same Lehi that fought the Lamanites in the valley on the east of the river Sidon.

24 When they found that in addition to the City of Noah being fortified, that Lehi commanded the army there, they were scared for their lives.

25 The Lamanite captains did not want to look cowardly and break their oath, so they forced their armies to fight.

26 The Lamanites couldn't even get into the city, as there was only one entrance and exit to the city.

27 The Nepites had very high and steep slopes surrounding the walls of all of their cities with ditches at the base of the slopes.

28 If a Lamanite attempted to climb the slopes, they became easy targets for Nephites to attack them with arroes or stones.

29 Every able bodied person was trained to fight with swords, slings, and bows to defend their city.

30 They were to attack anyone who approached the entrance to the city.

31 The Lamanite captains brought their soldiers near the entrance and were attacked by the Nephites.

32 They were driven back every time they attempted to reach the entrance, and many of them were killed.

33 The Lamanites thought that they may be able to tunnel into the city and attack once they were inside.

34 As they began to dig, they were vulnerable to attacks from the Nephites.

35 The dead Lamanites became so numerous that they began to completely fill the ditches around the City of Noah.

36 The Lamanites attempted to destroy the Nephites until all of their captains were killed.

37 More than 1,000 Lamanites were killed.

38 About 50 Nephites were wounded, but not a single one was killed.

39 When the Lamanites had lost all of their command, they fled into the wilderness and made their way to the Land of Nephi in the Lamanite Kingdom.

40 They told King Amalickiah, who was a Nephite by birth, about the death of the soldiers and the militaristic genius of the Nephites.

41 King Amalickiah became very angry that they had suffered such a devastating and embarrassing loss.

42 He wanted his soldiers to enslave the Nephites, not be wiped out by them.

43 King Amalickiah swore an oath that he would drink the blood of Moroni.

44 Moroni was so hated because it was him that had prepared the Nephites so well for attacks from teh Lamanites.

45 The Nephites on the other hand thanked and praised Moroni for helping keep them safe.

46 This ended the 19th year of the reign of judges.

47 The sons of Alma the Younger and the sons of King Mosiah the 2nd continued to teach morality among the Nephites, and many people had committed to living moral lives.

--------------------Chapter 8--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 50

1 Moroni did not stop preparing the Nephites for war after the Lamanites lost the battle in the Land of Noah.

2 He had the soldiers fortify every city and village in the Republic of Zarahemla in the same way that the City of Noah was fortified.

3 They dug ditches around the city and put the dirt around the walls of the city.

4 Moroni also had also thought to put strong chevaux de frise around the cities.

5 He also had places for the Nephites to protect themselves from the arrows and stones of the Lamanites.

6 The Nephites would be able to attack with relative security.

7 Moroni marched his soldiers to the wilderness to the east, where the Lamanites were planning their next attack, and drove them back inot the Lamanite kingdom

8 Moroni then encouraged Nephites who were in the Land of Zarahemla to cultivate and settle the land near the east wilderness all the way to the seashore to prevent this land from being a weakness.

9 He then placed armies along the borders of the Republic of Zarahemla and the Lamantie kingdom and build fortifications to protect their lands from invaders.

10 By doing all of this, he sucessfully cut off the Lamanite strongholds from the Lamanite kingdom, fortified the borders of the Republic of Zarahemla and the Lamanite Kingdom, and prevented the Lamanites from having a stretegic militaristic advantage of posessing the land of Bountiful.

11 More people felt comfortable joining the armies because they knew that their homes, spouses, and children were safe in their fortress cities.

12 Since more soldiers joined the army, they were able to work harder and quicker than before to protect the Republic of Zarahemla.

13 Their ultimate goal was to make it impossible for the Lamanites to have any ability to invade and attack the Nephites.

14 Some of the Nephites from the Land of Zarahemla came to the land that was unsettled in the east and called it the Land of Moroni.

15 They started construction on a city they also named Moroni.

16 This land had a lot of stretegic value in defending the Republic of Zarahemla.

17 They also settled a land they called Nephihah, which was between the lands of Aaron and Moroni, and started construction on a city with the same name.

18 They also settled a land they called Lehi, which was north of the land of Moroni, and started construction on a city with the same name.

19 The Nephites prospered as they expanded in the 21st year of the reign of the judges.

20 Because the Nephites worked together for the protection of one another, they prospered exceedingly.

21 They became very rich and were able to sustain their expansion northward.

22 Living moral lives and working together was paying off.

23 Lehi's promise of living moral lives and working together leading to a prosperous life was once again coming true.

24 Lehi's promise of living immoral lives and being selfish leading to a difficult life was also once again coming true.

25 There was never a happier Nephite than Moroni.

26 In the 22nd and 23rd years of the reign of the judges there was peace

27 The 24th year was also largely marked by peace, except for one incident.

28 The people of the Land of Lehi and the Land of Morianton, which was established by a man named Morianton just north of the Land of Lehi, had a border dispute.

29 The dispute became so Serious that the people of Morianton were willing to take the land by force and kill those who opposed them.

30 Many people of the Land of Lehi fled to Moroni for help in resolving the dispute.

31 The people of Morianton feared for their lives when they found out the people of Lehi had asked Moroni for assistance.

32 Morianton encouraged his people to flee to the north most land of all in the Land of Desolation, which was above the narrow neck of land. This land had many great lakes.

33 Morianton would have relocated his people here, which would have been very difficult for his people, but Morianton was aman full of anger and one day beat his maid.

34 The maid fled to Moroni's camp and told him all the things that Morianton had done and their plans to move north.

35 The people in the Land of Bountiful were scared that many would align with Morianton if he relocated to the Land of Northward.

36 This would lay a foundation for the Nephites to be surrounded by rival nations who would seek to overthrow their liberty.

37 Moroni sent an army to stop the Moriantonites migration to the Land of Northward.

38 The army didn't reach them until they were at the borders of the Land of Desolation in the narrow neck of land.

39 The captain of this army was named Teancum, and he met with Morianton.

40 The people of Morianton followed their leader and were an immoral and stubborn people, and would not listen to Teancum, and started a battle.

41 In this battle, Teancum killed Morianton and his army defeated the Moriantonite army and took them as prisoners and brought them back to Moroni.

42 The 24th year ended with the Moriantonites being brought back to their land.

43 The Moriantonites promised to keep the peace with the Lehites, and the border dispute was solved.

44 In this same year, the chief judge of the Republic of Zarahemla, Nephihah, passed away after living a moral life.

45 Nephihah's son Pahoran, who had been a lower judge, was chosen to be the next chief judge.

46 He was appointed and promised to reign with morality and to keep the justice, peace, and freedom of the Nephites.

--------------------Chapter 9--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 51

1 The 25th year of the reign of the judges started with peace.

2 However, the peace was not maintained.

3 There was another movement to reorganize the Republic of Zarahemla back into a kingdom, but chief judge Pahoran wouldn't listen to these people who called themselves kingsmen, despite many pleas.

4 Pahoran knew that to reorganize into a kingdom would mean a loss of freedom for everyone in the land.

5 The kingsmen became so angry they started a recall movement for Pahoran.

6 The people that swore an oath to protect their rights, freedom, and the republic were called freemen.

7 The Nephites decided to have a vote on how the government should be run.

8 The votes were cast, and the voice of the freemen was the majority. Pahoran would remain as chief judge and the Nephite government would remain a republic.

9 The freemen were filled with joy over this triumph of freedom.

10 The kingsmen begrudgingly accepted the results.

11 Those that were the leaders of the kingsmen were the descendants of the kings of the lands when King Mosiah the 2nd had reorganized the kingdom into a republic.

12 This was a critical time among the Nephites.

13 The Lamanite king Amalickiah was rallying the Lamanites to go to war again, and preperations were starting all over his kingdom.

14 Amalickiah had sworn to drink the blood of Moroni, and would not break that oath.

15 His armies were not as mighty as they had been in the past, as thousands of his soldiers had been killed in battle.

16 Regardless, he still had a powerful army and was confident he'd prevail in battle.

17 He was so confident, that he himself led the charge of his army.

18 The Lamanites did these preperations in the 25th year of the reign of the judges when the Nephites were settling whether to reorganize their government or not.

19 When the Nephite kingsmen heard that the Lamanites were coming to wage war, they were glad and refused take up arms to defend themselves or other Nephites.

20 They were so angry at the decision of the freemen Nephites and at Pahoran that they would have rather see their nation fall than defend it.

21 When Moroni heard the behavior of the kingsmen while the Lamanites were invading he was filled with anger.

22 He sent a petition to the judges of all the lands asking them to start a required military draft and enlist the kingsmen in the army, and if they didn't enlist, they would be charged as draft resisters and put in jail till they rather decided to fight or the war was over.

23 Moroni thought it was best to be unified as a nation, because if they weren't they would not be able to repel the attacks of the Lamanites.

24 The judges of the land agreed with Moroni's petition.

25 Moroni sent his armies to go enlist the kingsmen who would comply when forced and to assist in the punishments of those who were draft resisters.

26 Many of these kingsmen fought Moroni's armies, and so Moroni's armies, who were well trained, defended themselves and saw victory.

27 There were 4,000 draft resistering kingsmen who went to battle against Moroni's armies and were killed.

28 Those that survived were thrown into prison until they chose to fight or the war was over.

29 There were many kingsmen who chose to enlist when forced to instead of fighting other Nephites or going to prison.

30 The kingsmen dissention had ended because of Moroni's idea to petition the judges of the lands.

31 He had also helped many see the error of their ways, and they then fought for freedom.

32 While Moroni had attended to the kingsmen rebellion, the Lamanites were able to invade the Land of Moroni.

33 The City of Moroni was not strong enough to repel the might of the Lamanite army without Moroni's armies, and many died and were made slaves.

34 King Amalickiah took possession of the city.

35 Some fled to the cities of Nephihah and Lehi to warn the lands and prepare them for battle against the Lamanites.

36 King Amalickiah chose not to attack Nephihah, but kept attacking other cities and lands.

37 Wherever he conquered, he left troops to enforce the Lamanite rule.

38 He conquered the lands of Moroni, Lehi, Morianton, Omner, Gid, and Mulek, all of which were on the eastern shore.

39 The Lamanites made their own fortifications similar to the ones Moroni had invented to prevent the Nephites from taking the lands back.

40 As they marched on towards the Lands of Bountiful, they were met by Teancum.

41 They cut King Amalickiah off as he was marching towards the Land of Bountiful and the Land of Desolation.

42 King Amalickiah was dissappointed when Teancum was able to repel them back.

43 Teancum's soldiers were very strong. Much stronger than the Lamanite soldiers.

44 Their battle went on for hours until it was night.

45 Teancum's soldiers set up their tents on the borders of the Land of Bountiful, and King Amalickiah's soldiers set up their tents on the shore.

46 In the dead of night, Teancum and one of his captains went to King Amalickiah's camp.

47 The soldiers were very tired from the battle, and were unable to be woken up.

48 Teancum and the captain went to the king's tent and thrust a javelin into King Amalickiah's heart.

49 King Amalickiah's death was so sudden that he did not wake up, and did not make a sound.

50 Teancum and the captain went back to their own camp, and found that their own men were asleep as well.

51 Teancum woke them up to tell them of the mission he had accomplished.

52 He told his soldiers to prepare for the Lamanites to angrily come in case they were to attack.

53 This ended the 25th year of the reign of the judges and the days of King Amalickiah.

--------------------Chapter 10--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 52

1 On the first day of the 26th year of the reign of the judges, the Lamanites found Amalickiah dead in his dead and Teancum ready for battle.

2 When the Lamanites saw this they were scared.

3 They abandoned their posts and fled to the City of Mulek where they had fortifications they hoped would keep them safe.

4 Amalickiah's brother, Ammoron, was appointed the new king of the Lamanites.

5 King Ammoron commanded his people to protect the cities that they had killed to obtain.

6 They knew that recapturing a city would mean a lot more blood loss.

7 Teancum knew that the Lamanites were determined to keep the cities they had and the lands they were in.

8 Since Teancum knew the Lamanites had an enourmous amount of soldiers, he didn't think it was a good idea to attack their forts.

9 Instead, he put soldiers around the forts to make it look as if they were preparing for war.

10 Teancum was having his soldiers create dirt barriers to protect themselves from attack.

11 Teancum did this until Moroni was able to send more troops to strengthen his army.

12 When the troops arrived, Moroni gave Teancum orders.

13 He was to take prisoners and keep them alive when they were able so they could do a prisoner swap with the prisoners of war that the Lamanites had taken.

14 He also ordered him to fortify the Lands of Bountiful and secure the narrow pass that lead into the Lands Northward.

15 Moroni didn't want the Lamanites to obtain that land, because it would mean the Nephites would need to fight wars on 2 fronts.

16 Moroni asked Teancum to take complete charge in protecting that part of the lands from the Lamanites.

17 It was Teancum's duty to recapture the lands and cities from the Lamanites, and prevent the Lamanites from capturing more.

18 Moroni wanted to come and fight along side Teancum, but the Lamanites were at the Lamanites were invading the Land of Tone Tahe and he had to fight them there.

19 King Ammoron left his occupied territory that was in the Republic of Zarahemla to tell the Lamanite queen that her 2nd husband had been killed as well.

20 King Ammoron Also had many of his soldiers and march in the lands on the west sea, including the Land of Tone Tahe where Moroni was.

21 His goal was to harass the Nephites and get their soldiers to flock to that portion of the land instead of the ones that had already fallen to the Lamanites.

22 He also encouraged the Lamanites that were in the occupied territory to try and expand their borders and take posession of others lands in the east.

23 The Nephites were in these dangerous circumstances at the end of the 26th year of the reign of the judges.

24 However, in the 27th year of the reign of the judges, Teancum established armies to protect the south and east borders of the unoccupied area of the Republic of Zarahemla, preventing the Lamanites from expanding their borders.

25 Moroni had driven the Lamanites out of the east and was now heading north to the Lands of Bountiful and to assist Teancum retake the lost lands.

26 Moroni ordered Teancum to attack and retake the City of Mulek if possible.

27 Teancum prepared for the attack, but found it would be impossible to recapture the city while the Lamanites were in the fortification.

28 He abandoned the mission and returned to the City of Bountiful to wait for Moroni and his armies.

29 Moroni arrived at the latter end of the 27th year of the reign of the judges.

30 When he arrived, he and Teancum and many of their captains had a war strategy meeting on what they could do to lure the Lamanites out of the fortifications for battle.

31 They thought that maybe they could flatter them enough to get them to leave their strongholds, and thus gain a stretegic advantage over them and take the City of Mulek back!

32 They sent ambassadors to the Lamanite armies in the City of Mulek to the leader there, who was named Jacob, and asked him if he would come out of the city and meet them on the plains between the cities of Mulek and Bountiful.

33 Jacob, who was a Zoramite, refused to come out to the plains.

34 Moroni felt that there was no way to lure them out using this tactic, so he decided to set a trap for the Lamanites.

35 He told Teancum to take a small portion of the soldiers which were in the City of Bountiful and march down to the seashore near the city of Mulek.

36 Moroni would take the remaining soldiers and march them into the wilderness to the west of the City of Mulek.

37 In the morning when the Lamanite scouts saw Teancum's soldiers marching towards them, they ran and told their leader Jacob.

38 The Lamanites were full of pride and assumed they could kill all of Teancum's army easily, so Jacob sent all the Lamanite soldiers to do so.

39 When Teancum saw the Lamanite armies marching towards his, he had his army retreat north back towards the City of Bountiful.

40 The Lamanites were empowered by this and chased them with great excitement.

41 While Teancum was leading the Lamanites away, Moroni had his army come and easily take posession of the nearly unoccupied city.

42 He gave the remaining Lamanites the option of surrender of fighting to the death.

43 Moroni and Teancum had sucessfully recaptured the land and city of Mulek, which was the northern most land of the Republic of Zarahemla.

44 Moroni marched some of his troops to meet the Lamanites who would return to the city.

45 The Lamanites chased Teancum's army until they were nearly to the City of Bountiful.

46 Lehi, who had been put in charge of the City of Bountiful's army, prepared themselves to defend the city.

47 The chief captains of the Lamanites saw Lehi's army approaching, and became scared they would not be able to reach Mulek in time before Lehi's army overcame them.

48 The Lamanites were tired from chasing Teancum's army, while Lehi's army was ready for war.

49 The Lamanites still didn't know that Mulek had been captured and that Moroni was marching towards them. THey were only scared of Lehi at this point.

50 Lehi didn't want to engage in battle until Moroni and his armies had arrived as well.

51 The Lamanites only retreated a short distance by the time they were completely surrounded by Nephite armies who were not as tired as they were.

52 Moroni commanded his armies to attack until the Lamanites surrendered their weapons.

53 Their leader, Jacob, was a Zoramite.

54 He had an unconquerable spirit, and led the Lamanites to battle with a great hatred fury against Moroni.

55 He was determined to cut through Moroni's army to reach the City of Mulek.

56 However, Moroni and his soldiers were more powerful, and were not able to be divided.

57 In the battle that ensued, many were killed on both sides.

58 Moroni was wounded, while Jacob was killed.

59 Lehi attacked them from the opposite front from Moroni so hard that the Lamanites near Lehi surrendered their weapons.

60 The Lamanite soldiers became confused and didn't know whether to surrender or keep attacking.

61 Moroni saw the Lamanites' confusion, so he declared to them:

	62 "If you give me your weapons of war I will spare your lives"

63 When the chief captains of the Lamanites who had not been killed heard this, they came to Moroni and threw down their weapons at Moroni's feet.

64 They encouraged the other Lamanites to do the same.

65 There were many who would not listen to their captains and wanted to keep fighting.

66 Their weapons were forcibly taken from them and they were taken and bound, and forced to march to the City of Bountiful.

67 The number of soldiers who were prisoners of war was greater than the number of killed soldiers on both sides.

--------------------Chapter 11--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 53

1 The Nephites posted guards over the Lamanites prisoners of war, and forced them to bury the dead soldiers, both Lamanite and Nephite.

2 Moroni went to the City of Mulek with Lehi and took control of the city, and then gave it to Lehi to watch over.

3 Lehi and Moroni had fought in many battles together and were good friends. They were happy each other was safe.

4 After the Lamanite prisoners of war finished burying the dead, they were marched back to the Land of Bountiful in the Lands of Bountiful.

5 Teancum was ordered by Moroni to dig a ditch or a moat around the City of Bountiful.

6 He had the dirt that was dug put on the top of the moat and then had wooden walls constructed at the top of these piles of dirt.

7 The Lamanite prisoners of war fortified this city until it was secure.

8 The city was then guarded by the Lamanites, both inside and outside.

9 Moroni had the Lamanites work for him while enprisoned because they were easy to guard and he prefered his own soldiers fighting against the Lamanites.

10 After the City of Mulek had been recaptured from the Lamanites, many Lamanites were taken as prisoners of war, and the City of Bountiful was fortified by these prisoners of war, there were no more battles that year.

11 Moroni prepared his people for war by training more soldiers, fortifying more cities, and feeding the poor and hungry.

12 The Lamanite armies came to occupy the southwest area of the Republic of Zarahemla while Moroni was in the northwest of the Republic of Zarahemla and the Lands of Bountiful.

13 However, the Lamanites were disorganized and had many dissensions among themselves.

14 The Ammonites were in this occupied land.

15 These are the same Ammonites that began life as Lamanites, but were convinced of living moral lives by Ammon and his brothers.

16 They were brought to the Land of Zarahemla and considered themselves Nephites.

17 They were so committed to living their new moral lives that swore to never touch another weapon in their lives, because of the immorality they brought to them in the past.

18 In exchange for not providing any soldiers, the Ammonites gladly gave a higher tax to the Nephites to protect them.

19 However, with the Nephites being war-weary and their lands being occupied by the Lamanites, the Ammonites considered breaking their oath of non-violence to defend themselves and the other Nephites.

20 Before they broke their oath, Helaman and his brothers persueded them to not break their oath.

21 Helaman reminded them of the consequences of breaking an oath can have, especially when it regards a former habit or lifestyle.

22 The children of the Ammonites saw the situation was serious enough that their parents were willing to betray a core part of their identity to protect them and their people.

23 The children of the Ammonites had not made the oath that their parents had to never touch weapons of war.

24 They gathered themselves together to defend their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, spouses, children, and especially their parents who had taught them to live moral lives, but could not protect themselves.

25 They were willing to defend these things that they loved with their lives.

26 They would rather die than give up their liberty and live as slaves.

27 There were 2,000 of these Ammonites that vowed to defend their country.

28 The Ammonites had been seen as a disadvantage by many Nephites, but they became a great support in this desperate time of need.

29 They were extremely valiant, courageous, strong, active, and trustworthy.

30 They walked the path of morality with soberness.

31 These Ammonites wanted Helaman as their leader, and he accepted.

32 Helaman marched at the head of these 2,000 warriors to protect the people in the borders of the Republic of Zarahemla in the Land by the Sea.

33 This ended the 28th year of the reign of the judges.

--------------------Chapter 12--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 54

1 In the 29th year of the reign of the judges, the Lamanite King Ammoron wanted to swap prisoners of war with Moroni.

2 Moroni was happy that King Ammoron wanted to do this, because he wanted to feed his own people rather than the Lamanite prisoners.

3 The Lamanites had taken many civilians, including children, as prisoners of war, but Moroni left civilians alone and only took soldiers as prisoners.

4 Moroni wanted to get as many Nephite prisoners of war back as he could, and he developed a strategy for doing so.

5 He wrote a letter to King Ammoron and had one of the king's messenger deleiver it to him.

6 The letter said:

	7 "King Ammoron, I have written to you about the war that you and your brother Amalickiah have waged on the Nephites.

	8 The sword of our wrath will hang over you unless you withdraw your armies from our lands and into yours.

	9 This immoral war will be a stain on your peoples' memories forever unless you give up this immorality and resolve to strive for morality instead.

	10 Since you yourself were once a Nephite, and have been taught morality but have chosen immorality, I do not anticipate you to willingly do this.

	11 I know of your blind hatred for us, and I know that what I say to you likely falls on deaf ears, so I will make this short.

	13 I will not swap prisoners of war unless you deliver up a soldier with their entire family. This is the only way we will agree to a prisoner swap.

	14 The Nephites are prepared to fight and conquer you, and we will unless you retreat.

	15 The Nephites are prepared to fight and conquer you, and we will unless you give us our people back.

	16 We will have our people, cities, and lands back one way or another.

	17 My people and I are angry that we have been murdered by you unprovoked.

	18 If you do not do it the easy way, we will drive you out of our lands and bring the war into your lands.

	19 We will not tolerate it anymore. We will arm every citizen, including even our children.

	20 We will fight until there is not a single Lamanite left on the face of the Earth."

21 When King Ammoron recieved this letter he was angry, and wrote back to Moroni saying:

	22 “I am Ammoron the king of the Lamanites; I am the brother of Amalickiah, who you murdered.

	23 I will have my brother's revenge, and it will be your blood.

	24 Regardless, I agree to your terms for the prisoner swap, so that I don't have to feed them anymore.

	25 I will attack the Nephites, I am not scared of your threats.

	26 We will wage an eternal war against the Nephites until they rather bow to Lamanite rule or are extinct.

	27 Your ancestors robbed their brothers of their right to rule the government which rightly belonged to them.

	28 THis war has been waged to right the wrongs of your ancestors.

	29 If you give up your weapons of war and surrender to be ruled by the rightful government, then I will have my soldiers do the same and the war will be over.

	30 We Lamanites are not scared of your false Nephite threats.

	31 I am the Lamanite King Ammoron, a descendant of Zoram, whom your ancestors forced out of The Great City."

--------------------Chapter 13--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 55

1 When Moroni recieved King Ammoron's letter, he was angry because he knew that Ammoron knew he was perpetuating a false history.

2 He knew that Ammoron knew that there was no good reason for this war.

3 Moroni said:

	4 "I will not swap prisoners with King Ammoron until he retreats out of our lands.

	5 I will not give him more soldiers to fight against us.

	6 However, I do know that the City of Gid has been converted into a prisoner of war camp by the Lamanites for the Nephite prisoners of war.

	7 If King Ammoron will not agree to all of my terms, I will bring them death until they beg for peace."

8 When Moroni said these things, he searched among his soldiers for a descendant of Laman.

9 He found one, whose name was Laman.

10 Laman was one of the servants of the king who was murdered by Amalickiah.

11 Moroni had Laman and a small group of soldiers go to the guards of the camp that the Lamanites had for the Nephite prisoners of war.

12 By night, Laman went to the guards of the City of Gid.

13 The Lamanite soldiers saw him coming, and Laman said to them:

	14 "Don't worry, I am a Lamanite. We have escaped from the Nephites while they slept.

	15 We stole their wine and brought it with us."

16 The Lamanite guards let Laman and the other soldiers into the city gladly, and asked said:

	17 "Would you share your wine with us?

	18 We are glad you have wine, we really need to relax."

19 Laman said to them:

	20 "Let's wait until we're ready to go to battle against the Nephites, which will take the edge off."

21 This only made the guards want the wine more, and they said:

	22 "We really want to relax now.

	23 Let's ration the wine and we can choose for ourselves what we want to do with our rations.

	24 We believe that if we use it to relax now, we will be rested enough to go fight the Nephites."

25 Laman said they could do what they wanted with their rations.

26 The Lamanite guards drank the wine that was very delicious, but also very strong.

27 They all drank until they blacked out.

28 When Laman and his soldiers saw that the Lamanites were passed out, they returned to Moroni to tell them.

29 Everything was going according to Moroni's plan.

30 Moroni prepared his soldiers for battle and sent them to the City of Gid while the Lamanites were passed out.

31 The soldiers armed every Nephite prisoner of war, including the children.

32 He didn't want them to have to use them, but they were able to if they needed to.

33 This was done so quietly that none of the Lamanites woke up.

34 Even if they had woken up, they would have still been too drunk to fight.

35 Moroni had his soldiers surround the armies of the Lamanites.

36 When the Lamanites woke up in the morning, they awoke to being captured by the Nephites.

37 They saw that fighting would be useless.

38 Moroni demanded their weapons of war and they complied and begged for mercy.

39 Moroni took them as prisoners of war, re-captured the city, and freed all the Nephtes who were prisoners of war.

40 Many of these former prisoners chose to join Moroni's army to help end the war.

41 Moroni had the Lamanite prisoners of war strengthen the fortifications around the City of Gid, while treating them very humanely.

42 The Lamanites tried many times to try and recapture Gid, but it was now a well guarded Nephite city and land.

43 The Nephites knew that it was by working together that they were able to accomplish this victory.

44 They celebrated by drinking wine, but not before getting all of the Lamanite prisoners of war even more drunk.

45 Moroni then set his sights on reclaiming the land and city of Morianton.

46 The Lamanites had fortified the city into a great stronghold.

47 The Lamanites had a continual resupplying of provisions into Morianton.

48 This ended the 29th year of the reign of the judges.

--------------------Chapter 14--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 56

1 On the 2nd day of the 1st month of the 30th year of the reign of the judges, Moroni recieved a letter from Helaman about the people he was protecting.

2 Helaman's letter said:

	3 "My dearly beloved brother in morality, Moroni, I need to tell you about the events of these people I am protecting.

	4 2,000 young Ammonites have taken up weapons to defend their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, parents, and siblings.

	5 They wanted me to be their leader, and I accepted.

	6 You know that because of the oath that their parents swore, they were never to touch these weapons again.

	7 In the 26th year, the Ammonites were facing complete destruction and considered breaking their oath and once again weild their weapons.

	8 However, I implored them not to break the oath that they had made, which was the foundation of their moral life.

	9 I told them that we would prevail regardless.

	10 I marched with my 2,000 young Ammonites to the City of Judea to help Antipus, who you made the military leader over the city.

	11 Antipus's army and mine joined forces, and we were both happy at the strength of our army.

	12 Antipus's army had been reduced in size because of the many battles they had with the Lamanites.

	13 While we are sad that so many soldiers perished, we can take comfort in the fact that they died defending something they beleived was valueable enough to die for.

	14 The Lamanites also took many prisoners of war from Antipus's army, but only captains.

	15 They didn't let anyone live unless they were a leader of some sort.

	16 We don't know exactly where these prisoners of war are, but we think they may be in the Lamanite Kingdom if they haven't been killed already.

	17 The Lamanites were able to capture the lands of Manti, Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah by waging war.

	18 When I arrived in the Land of Judea, I found Antipus frantically trying to fortify the City of Judea so that the land wouldn't fall to the Lamanites either.

	19 Antipus's soldiers were tired and depressed. They had fought day and night to maintain their city and suffered many losses because of it.

	20 They were determined to accomplish their goal of keeping the city or dying.

	21 My 2,000 young Ammonites were a much needed relief and reenforcement.

	22 When the Lamanite King Ammoron saw that the City of Judea had recieved reenforcements, he ordered his armies not to go to battle against the city anymore.

	23 King Ammoron ordered his armies to maintain the lands that the Lamanites already posessed.

	24 We were happy that we had a short period of rest.

	25 At the start of the 27th year, we were rested and prepared ourselves and our city for battle.

	26 We realized that we would not prevail if we went on the offensive against the Lamanites, which is why we wanted the Lamanites to attack us instead.

	27 We sent out scouts to watch the movements of the Lamanites so we wouldn't be surprised if they attacked us and from where.

	28 We knew that smaller surrounding cities wouldn't be able to defend themselves if they were ambushed by the Lamanites.

	29 If these cities were attacked, the smaller cities would attack, and we would attack the Lamanites from the rear and surround them.

	30 We had hoped this would happen so we could over power them, but it never happened.

	31 The Lamanites dared not attack us with their either their full army or even a part of it.

	32 They did not believe that their armies were strong enough to win in a battle against us.

	33 This fear also prevented them from marching towards the City of Zarahemla, the City of Nephihah, or the head of the Sidon River.

	34 This is why the Lamanite armies only stayed in the lands that they already had taken posession of.

	35 In the 2nd month of the 27th year, the parents of my 2,000 young Ammonites brought their children provisions.

	36 2,000 more soldiers also joined our army from the Land of Zarahemla.

	37 We had a total of 10,000 soldiers and enough provisions for all of them.

	38 The Lamanites saw the army growing stronger and had many resources, and were afraid.

	39 They desperately wanted to quickly cut us off from our resupplies.

	40 When we saw that the Lamanites were growing uneasy, Antipus and I realized it was time to come up with a strategy to battle with the Lamanites.

	41 Antipus ordered that I march with my young Ammonites acting as if we were carrying provisions to the City by the Sea past the City of Antiparah.

	42 Antiparah was a well populated Lamanite stronghold and where the strongest Lamanite army was stationed.

	43 Antipus also marched a part of his army once mine had reached the City of Antiparah.

	44 A fair amount of his army stayed at the City of Judea.

	45 When the Lamanite scouts had alerted the Lamanite army that we were marching near them, they marched towards us.

	46 When my army and I saw the Lamanites marching towards us, we fled to the north.

	47 When we did this, we led the most powerful Lamanite army far away from the city they were defending.

	48 When the Lamanites saw that Antipus's army was chasing them as well, they realized they were trapped and their only option was to overtake my army before Antipus's overtook theirs.

	49 Antipus realized the danger that my young Ammonites and I were in, and had his army chase the Lamanites faster.

	50 Night had come and no one had overtaken another.

	51 My army, Antipus's army, and the Lamanite army all camped for the night to rest.

	52 However, even before the dawn broke, the Lamanites restarted their chase.

	53 I knew that my army would not be able to survive a battle with them without Antipus's army.

	54 I did not want to see my young Ammonite soldiers to fall in a massacre, so I continued to run from the strong Lamanite army.

	55 We marched until we were forced to march into the wilderness.

	56 The Lamanites were very close to my army, and we had to be very purposeful with the direction and speed we had as we fled from them.

	57 We fled all day in the wilderness until it was dark.

	58 Again, even before the dawn broke, the Lamanites restarted their chase.

	59 It was the 3rd day of the 7th month when they didn't chase us very long until they stopped.

	60 I didn't know if they had planned a trap or were overtaken by Antipus's army.

	61 I said to my army:

		62 'We could be falling into a trap or Antipus's army could have overtaken the Lamanites and are in battle with them now.

		63 My brave, young Ammonites, do you want to stay here or go against them in battle?'

	64 Moroni, Their response was the greatest act of courage that has ever been displayed among the Nephites.

	65 They said to me:

		66 'Helaman, we have sworn to protect our morality, way of life, freedom, peace, parents, and siblings.

		67 We wish that we didn't have to protect the things we love through violence, but we will if we have to.

		68 We will fight alongside Antipus's army!'

	69 My soldiers had never fought in a battle before, but they did not concern themselves with death.

	70 Their thoughts were focused on the peace, liberty, and freedom of their families.

	71 They had been taught by their parents to live extraordinarily moral lives.

	72 They taught me the lessons that their parents had taught them, and I was moved by them.

	73 I lead my 2,000 young Ammonites into battle against the strongest Lamanites in battle.

	74 I was relieved to find that Antipus's army had  overtaken them and they were battling one another.

	75 However, Antipus's army was tired from their long chase and were about to surrender to the Lamanites.

	76 If I had not returned with my 2,000 young Ammonites, they would have been killed.

	77 Acause of this, the army was confused by a lack of chain of command and were begining to flee.

	78 The Lamanites beleived thet victory was immenent and chased the fleeing army with great excitement.

	79 It was then that my army flanked the Lamanites.

	80 The Lamanites decided to stop their chase and deal with my young army before total victory was theirs.

	81 While my army fought the Lamanites, it gave the other army long enough to regroup, establish a chain of command, and attack the Lamanites again.

	82 We Nephites surrounded the Lamanites and fought them hard enough that they surrendered their weapons of war and became our prisoners.

	83 After this great battle, I dreaded to count the dead young Ammonites.

	84 I was filled with an overwhelming joy when I found that not a single one had been slain.

	85 There had never been a group that fought with wuch conviction and strength.

	86 They fought with such ferocisty that the Lamanites were scared by them, and surrendered themselves as our prisoners.

	87 We had no place to put or guard these many prisoners of war, so I sent some of my soldiers to escort the prisoners to the Land of Zarahemla to be guarded.

	88 I joined the rest of the army with my own and we marched back to the City of Judea.

--------------------Chapter 15--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 57

The Land and City of Cumeni is liberated from the Lamanites by depriving them of their provisions. The young Ammonites are ordered to take the resulting prisoners of war back to the Land of Zarahemla. They return the next day and fight an approching Lamanite army coming from Manti. All the Ammonites survive.

	1 "I recieved a letter from the Lamanite King Ammoron saying that if I were to give him his soldiers that are prisoners of war, he would give the Land of Antiparah back to the Nephites.

	2 I sent a letter back to him telling him that we were sure our armies would be able to recapture the City of Antiparah by force, and that surrendering the prisoners of war would be unwise strategically for us.

	3 I told him that we would only release his prisoners if he agreed to the customary prisoner exchange: a Nephite soldier and his entire family for a single Lamanite soldier.

	4 King Ammoron refused this prisoner exchange and so we prepared to go to war to reclaim the City of Antiparah.

	5 The Lamanites there had fled the City of Antiparah in the Land of Antiparah to go and fortify smaller villages throughout the land.

	6 We recaptured the City of Antiparah with no fighting.

	7 This ended the 28th year of the reign of the judges.

	8 At the beginning of the 29th year, we recieved provisions and reenforcements from the Land of Zarahemla and other nearby lands.

	9 We now had 6,000 soldiers and an additional 60 young Ammonites that had come to join their siblings.

	10 We were strong, well fed, and well rested.

	11 We wanted to liberate the City of Cumeni from Lamanite occupation.

	12 Our plan was this: we surround the City of Cumeni on the night they were to recieve their provisions from the Lamanite Kingdom, overpower their resuppliers, and starve the Lamanites out.

	13 We camped near the city waiting, watching, and planning our attack.

	14 We slept with our swords drawn and ready for battle and kept guards posted in case we were discovered by the Lamanites.

	15 The resuppliers finally came and we easily overpowered them and took the provisions for ourselves and sent them to the Lands of Judea and Zarahemla.

	16 It wasn't many days after this until the Lamanites grew hungry and scared.

	17 They surrendered the City and Land of Cumeni in exchange for their safety as prisoners.

	18 We guranteed their safety as long as they caseud no trouble.

	19 We now had so many Lamanite prisoners of war that the only thing our army could manage was being prison guards for them.

	20 Occasionally there were Lamanites that tried to start uprisings to overthrow us and make us Nephites the guards.

	21 They fought with stones, clubs, or anything else they could get their hands on.

	22 Their uprisisngs lead to 2,000 of their deaths while they were prisoners of war.

	23 We realized the only long term solution was to take these Lamanite prisoners of war to the Land of Zarahemla, where they would be properly guarded.

	24 Besides the uprisings, we were running low on provisions for both us and our prisoners.

	25 I sent my young Ammonite warriors to escort the prisoners to the Land of Zarahemla.

	26 The next morning the young Ammonites returned without the prisoners.

	27 I didn't ask my young Ammonites about the whereabouts of the Lamanite prisoners of war because I needed them to fight.

	28 At the same time, the Lamanites were marching towards us once again. The Lamanite King Ammoron had sent a new army from the Land of Manti with many provisions to wage war against us in this time of need.

	29 The returning soldiers came at exactly the right time. Without them we might have been overpowered.

	30 My young Ammonite warriors once again fought bravely and valiently against the Lamanites.

	31 They administered death to all those who opposed them.

	32 While many of my soldiers doubted themselves and the chain of command, the young Ammonites were firm and undaunted.

	33 They listened to and performed every word of command with exactness.

	34 They were taught by their parents to live moral lives, and they succeeded in doing so.

	35 The Lamanites were sucessfully driven back into the Land of Manti and we kept the Land and City of Cumeni, but at a great price.

	36 I ordered my soldiers to search among the dead for the wounded and to dress their wounds.

	37 200 of my 2,060 young Ammonite warriors had been seriously wounded, but all once again had eluded death.

	38 The entire army was astonished because of how fiercely these young warriors fought.

	39 Out of the rest of the army, there were 1,000 who had fallen in battle.

	40 The young Ammonites did not see death as an option. They had resolved to protect their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, parents, and siblings, and not even death would stop them.

	41 After we had taken care of our wounded and buried both the Nephite and Lamanite dead, I asked the chief captain of the young Ammonites, named Gid, about the whereabouts of the Lamanite prisoners of war.

	42 Gid told me:

		43 'As we started towards the Land of Zarahemla with the prisoners of war, we saw the scouts that we had sent out to watch the camps of the Lamanites.

		44 They told us the Lamanites were marching towards the Land and City of Cumeni to take it and kill every Nephite.

		45 Our prisoners heard the reports of our scouts, and were filled with so much courage that they rose up against us in a rebellion.

		46 We defended ourselves against this uprising, but their courage was misplaced.

		47 Their weapons were of sticks and stones, while ours were of steel.

		48 They charged us as a single body into our swords.

		49 Most were killed, but some escaped and fled from us.

		50 We chose not to pursue the escaped prisoners, but instead march towards the City of Cumeni so we could assist you in battling for it.'

	51 I was filled with happiness that my young Ammonites had not killed these prisoners out of mere convienience, but out of self defense.

	52 I was glad that they were safe, and had lived through another battle, despite the odds."

--------------------Chapter 16--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 58

	1 "Our next goal was to recapture the Land and City of Manti, but our armies were too small to do so.

	2 The Lamanites knew about our tactics of luring them out of their strongholds, and wouldn't fall prey to this again.

	3 Their armies were much stronger than mine, so we dared not go on the offense and attack them.

	4 It became apparent that I should deploy my soldiers to maintain the land that we had just regained while we wait for the Land of Zarahemla to send more troops and supplies.

	5 I sent an embassy to the chief judge of the Republic of Zarahemla to brief him on our situation.

	6 While we waited for a response, the Lamanites grew stronger every day.

	7 They were getting more soldiers and supplies sent to them.

	8 The Lamanites were doing this because they wanted to destroy us before our reenforcements and resupplies could come.

	9 If they did come, they knew they would likely not be able to defeat us.

	10 We waited like this for many months until we were on the brink of starvation.

	11 Finally the Republic of Zarahemla sent us 2,000 more soldiers who carried provisions with them.

	12 The chief judge recognized that we needed this to defend not only ourselves but our country as well.

	13 While we were thankful for the 2,000 soldiers, we were expecting many more.

	14 We were filled with fear, and beleived that we would not be able to win in battle against the strong Lamanites.

	15 We supported each other, and lifted each other's morale during this difficult time.

	16 We were a brave little army that was determined to conquer our enemy so we could preserve our morality, way of life, freedom, peace, spouses, children.

	17 We marched to the City of Manti and set up camp near it.

	18 The next morning, the Lamanites saw that we were on the outskirts of the city.

	19 They sent scouts to gather information regarding the size and strength of our city.

	20 They saw that we were not strong in numbers, and believed our purpose was to cut them off from resupplies.

	21 They decided to go to battle against us, and believed it would be an easy victory.

	22 When I saw that the Lamanites were preparing for war, I had Gid, the captain of the young Ammonites, gather a small group of soldiers and hide in the wilderness.

	23 I also had Teomner do the same thing.

	24 Gid was hidden to the right and Teomner to the left while my army was in the palce we had set up camp where the Lamanites would come to battle us.

	25 The Lamanites sent many of their soldiers out to destroy us quickly.

	26 When I saw the Lamnites coming to destroy us, I had my soldiers retreat into the wilderness.

	27 The Lamanites followed us with incredible speed, because they wanted to be rid of us quickly.

	28 My army as well as the Lamanite army passed by Gid and Teomner's hidden troops who remained undetected.

	29 Gid and Teomner rose from their hiding places and cut off the scouts of the Lamanites from returning to the city.

	30 Gid and Teomner's soldiers ran to the city and easily overtook the few remaining guards, and were able to quickly take posession of the city of Manti.

	31 This was possible because the Lamanites sent their whole army to destroy mine, but were lead away on a chase into the wilderness.

	32 As the Lamanites chased my army, we headed towards the Land of Zarahemla.

	33 When the Lamanites saw where we were headed, they began to be afraid.

	34 They believed if they continued to chase us they would be destroyed by the full might of the Republic of Zarahemla.

	35 The Lamanites retreated into the wilderness back towards the City of Manti.

	36 When night came, they believed that the Nephites were also tired from traveling that day, so they pitched their tents believing they were safe.

	37 They also believed that they had chased my whole army and that the city was still in their posession.

	38 However, that night I had my soldiers march toward the Land of Manti instead of sleeping.

	39 We traveled and were closer to the City of Manti than the Lamanites when day broke, and were able to arrive much sooner than them.

	40 When the Lamanites arrived at the City of Manti to see we had taken it and were prepared for battle, they were so surprised and scared that they scattered and fled into the wilderness.

	41 The Lamanite armies were sucessfully driven out of my quarter of the land.

	42 However, they took may civilian prisoners of war with them.

	43 Those that were not prisoners of war were finally able to return to their homes.

	44 Our armies were very small, and weren't able to properly defend all the cities were were to protect.

	45 However, we were confident that we would be able to find a way, since it was unlikely that we were even able to recapture these lands in the first place.

	46 We still don't know why the Republic of Zarahemla gave us so few reenforcements.

	47 We hope that it is because you have taken many soldiers that you needed, and not because our contry was growing weak overall.

	48 We hope that the government hasn't been corrupted and sees no point in this war effort.

	49 Whatever it is, we know that we will carry on, because we have overcome many things already.

	50 It is now the end of the 29th year of the reign of the judges.

	51 We have taken our lands back and driven the Lamanites back to their own.

	52 The Young Ammonites, who I am very fond of, are with me in the City of Manti.

	53 They have been preserved because of their determination to protect their morality, way of life, freedom, peace, parents, and siblings.

	54 They have suffered many wounds, but would have gladly suffered death to defend these precious things.

	55 They have committed to living moral lives every day without pause.

	56 My beloved brother in morality, Moroni, I hope that you have had the same commitment as these admirable Ammonites.

	57 I hope that you have had success in recapturing all tha lands that the Lamanites have taken from us.

	58 Sincerely, Helaman, the Son of Alma the Younger.”

--------------------Chapter 17--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 59

1 In the 30th year of the reign of the judges, after Moroni had read Helaman's letter, he was filled with joy because of the welfare and sucess that he had had in repcapturing the Nephite lands.

2 He told all of his soldiers and everyone in the lands he was defending about this success, so they could share this joy.

3 He immediately sent a letter to the chief judge of teh Republic of Zarahemla, Pahoran.

4 Moroni asked him to send more reencorcements to Helaman and his armies so they could retain the lands they had defied the odds to recapture.

5 Moroni also began to plan how he could recapture the rest of the lands that the Lamanites had posession of.

6 While Moroni was making these preperations, the City of Nephihah was attacked by the Lamanites.

7 This was the city that took in the Nephite refugees from the lands that the Lamanites had occupied.

8 The Lamanite army was very strong and had daily resupplies and reenforcements sent to them by order of the Lamanite King Ammoron.

9 There was a massive massacre in the City of Nephihah.

10 The people in the City of Nephihah fled as fast as they could to the army of Moroni.

11 Moroni sent troops there believing that they only needed troops to retain the city.

12 He kept most of his troops with him.

13 When Moroni saw that the land and city of Nephihah was lost, he was overcome with sorrow and doubted his skills as a military leader.

14 All his chief captains experienced the same things.

15 Moroni was angry at the leadership of the Republic of Zarahemla for their seeming indifference in defending their own country and not sending more reenforcements to everyone who needed it.

--------------------Chapter 18--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 60

1 After he recieved no response from the chief judge Pahoran, Moroni wrote to him again and said:

	2 "This letter is for the chief judge of the Republic of Zarahemla, Pahoran, who resides in the City of Zarahemla.

	3 It is also for those that he has appointed to help him manage the affiars of the war.

	4 You have been appointed to train and arm the Nephite troops with swords, scimitar, bows and arrows, stones and slings, and every kind of weapon of war and send them to where they are most needed to fight against the Lamanites.

	5 My armies as well as Helaman's armies have suffered thousands of great losses because of your inability to do your job.

	6 We demand to know why you have neglected us while we have fought to protect you.

	7 Are you sitting upon your thrones without a single thought for our deaths which are by the thousands?

	8 You could have prevented thousands of these deaths by doing your job!

	9 Not only this, but you have failed to provide provisions for us, and were weakened because of it.

	10 You say you want freedom and welfare, but you're not putting in the effort to have it.

	11 You have blood on your hands from the slaughter of the moral people that fight for you because of your immoral neglect.

	12 If the kingsmen hadn't fractured our country at such a critical time, the Lamanites never would have gotten such a hold on our country.

	13 However, the Lamanites are here and have our lands, murder our people, and enslave any survivors.

	14 Both the Lamanites and the kingsmen sought power over us, and in their own ways have taken it.

	15 I don't know if you are traitors like the kingsmen or just ignoranyly beleive that everything is fine.

	16 Have you forgotten the lessons that our ancestors taught about how they were enslaved?

	17 Have you forgotten how many times and how we were able to escape from the clutches of our enemies?

	18 Are thousands of you just sitting in the Land of Zarahemla doing nothing and hoping the problem will just go away?

	19 You are not guiltless.

	20 Before you can expect anythign to change, you have to make a change in yourself first.

	21 Forsake your immoral laziness and do your jobs.

	22 Send soldiers and food to both Helaman and myself.

	23 If you do not do this, the Lamanites will recapture the lands they posessessed and easily take the entire Republic of Zarahemla from us.

	24 If you do not comply with what I have ordered, I will station a part of my men to maintain the lands we have recaptured and will march to you to do your jobs for you.

	25 I will enlist anyone who still cares about freedom and liberty.

	26 I do not fear your power or authority. I fear the loss of freedom and liberty my country is facing because of your inaction.

	27 The time is now to do your jobs or die.

	28 I will wait for your response, and if my demands for more troops and provisions are not met, I will come to you and take command of the ountry to save it from the Lamanites.

	29 Your impeding of our freedom will no longer be a factor.

	30 I will not tolerate an immoral administration in the Republic of Zarahemla.

	31 I swore an oath to protect this country, and I will honor that oath even if it means destroying the immoral leaders of it.

	32 The choice is now yours what the future holds, and the future is coming quickly.

	33 I suggest you do as I order.

	34 I am Moroni, your chief captain of the Nephite armies.

	35 I do not seek power, I seek to tear down immorality, slavery, and oppression in favor of morality, freedom, and liberty.

	36 My concern is for my country and my fellow citizens."

--------------------Chapter 19--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 61

1 Soon after Moroni had sent this letter, he recived a letter from the chief judge of the Republic of Zarahemla, Pahoran, which said:

	2 "I, Pahoran, the chief judge of this land, send these words to Moroni, the chief captain over the Nephite armies.

	3 Moroni, I do not take delight inyour great afflictions; it grieves my soul.

	4 There are many in the Land of Zarahemla that have risen up against me and the other freemen and do find joy in your misery.

	5 They have sought to reorganize the Republic of Zarahemla back into a kingdom by force.

	6 My inaction has been because of this rebellion.

	7 They have been able to convince many of the citizens tof their ideology.

	8 They have been able to cut off the soldiers here from provisions, let alone sending thm to you or Helaman.

	9 I was exiled from the Land of Zarahemla and fled to the Land of Gideon with whoever remained loyal to freedom and liberty.

	10 I sent out a proclamation throughout the Land of Gideon about the state of the Republic.

	11 There are many who have come to aid our cause of preserving freedom and liberty.

	12 Our numbers are large enough that the kingsmen now fear going to battle with us.

	13 However, after the kingsmen took the Land of Zarahemla, they appointed a king who immediately made a treaty with the Lamanites.

	14 The treaty operated under the assumption that the Lamanites would completely conquer the Nephites.

	15 It stated that the Land of Zarahemla would remain under Nephite control if they did not seek to enlarge their borders or take more control from the Lamanites.

	16 You have chastized me in your letter, but I am not angry because of it.

	17 You did not have a complete understanding of the situation that the Republic of Zarahemla faces.

	18 I am happy that you remain so dedicated to preserving freedom and liberty to the Nephites.

	19 My goal is not for power, my goal is the same as yours.

	20 We freemen Nephites will resist the kingsmen Nephites' immorality till death.

	21 We wish we weren't in this situation, but it is what it is.

	22 Moroni, we cannot resist evil with only our words at this point. Diplomacy has been tried and failed with our vote to reorganize.

	23 We must defend freedom with our swords.

	24 While I know times are dire for your army as well, I ask that you send a portion of it to me and leave the remainder in charge of Lehi and Teancum.

	25 I have a few provisions for them when they get here.

	26 When they get here, we will go to war other those Nephites that seek to take away our rights.

	27 We will reclaim our land and city of Zarahemla, and when we do, we will send provisions to Lehi, Teancum, and Helaman.

	28 Again, Moroni, I am filled with joy because of your dedication to freedom and liberty.

	29 I forgive you for your assumptions, and I ask you to forgive yourself and learn from this mistake."

--------------------Chapter 20--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 62

1 When Moroni recieved this letter, he was filled with joy because of the reality that he hadn't considered.

2 He was glad that Pahoran was not a traitor but a leader struggling to keep a country together.

3 He was sad that the Nephites had largely given up morality, started a rebellion, and exiled Pahoran.

4 Moroni went with a small amount of troops to the Land of Gideon to help Pahoran as he had asked while he gave Lehi and Teancum the rest of the army.

5 He raised the standard of liberty wherever he went and had whoever would join come with him.

6 Thousands flocked to this standard and took up swords to defend their country and freedom.

7 Moroni joined the forces he had gathered with Pahoran's forces and they were an army to be reckoned with.

8 The rebel Nephite king was named Pachus, and Moroni's army would be an even match with his army.

9 Moroni and Pahoran went with their armies into the Land of Zarahemla, and marched towards the City of Zarahemla, where they met King Pachu's soldiers in battle.

10 King Pachus was killed in battle, the kingsmen were taken as prisoners, and Pahoran was restored as the chief judge over the Republic of Zarahemla.

11 Pachu's kingsmen were given a trial as was required by law.

12 Seeking to take away the freedoms and liberty of a whole nation was not taken lightly in the Nephite laws.

13 Those found guilty of treason against the Republic of Zarahemla were executed.

14 This ended the 30th year of the reign of the judges.

15 At the beginning of the 31st year, Moroni immediately sent provisions and 6,000 soldiers to Helaman to help retain the land he protected.

16 He also sent 6,000 soldiers with provisions to Lehi and Teancum to help retain that land as well.

17 Moroni and Pahoran left many troops in the Land of Zarahemla, but also sent troops to the Land of Nephihah so they could overthrow the Lamanite rule there.

18 On their march there they were met by Lamanite armies and killed many of them and took their weapons and provisions.

19 Those that had been spared were compelled to take the same oath that the Ammonites had taken: to never touch weapons of war again.

20 When they entered into this oath, they were sent to live among the Ammonites.

21 There were 4,000 new Ammonites that day.

22 After this, Moroni and Pahoran again marched towards the Land of Nephihah.

23 When they approached the City of Nephihah, they set up camp in the plains of Nephihah, which were near the city.

24 Moroni had hoped that the Lamanites would come out to battle the Nephites, but the Lamanites were afraid of the strength and power of the Nephties and dared not come out to battle them.

25 When night came, Moroni climbed upon the walls of the city to see where the Lamanite armies were camping in the city.

26 They were camped on the east by the entrance, and were all fast asleep.

27 Moroni returned to his army and had them make grappling hooks and ladders to scale the walls with.

28 Moroni had his soldiers march over the walls and into the west part of the city.

29 When the morning came and the Lamanites saw the Nephites were inside the walls of the city, they were filled with fear and fled out of the Land of Nephihah and into the Land of Moroni.

30 Moroni chased them and killed many of them while also taking many as prisoners of war.

31 Moroni and Pahoran were able to retake the Land of Nephihah without the loss of one Nephite life.

32 The Lamanites who were taken as prisoners of war wanted to take the Ammonite oath and become a free people.

33 Whoever wanted to take this oath were given the chance and became Ammonites, who were considered Nephites.

34 These new Ammonites worked hard. They farmed and raised livestock.

35 The Nephites were relieved that they did not have to guard them as prisoners of war.

36 When the City of Nephihah had been taken many of the prisoners there resolved to join the Nephite armies.

37 In addition, many Lamanite soldiers were killed, and thousands of Lamanites became Ammonites, the Lamanite armies had been greatly reduced in size.

37 Moroni took the armies into the Land of Lehi to liberate it as well.

38 When the Lamanites saw Moroni coming to battle against them, they were afraid and ran away.

39 Moroni chased the Lamanites until they were met by Lehi and Teancum's armies.

40 The Lamanites scattered and ran till they reached the Land of Moroni.

41 While in the Land of Moroni, the Lamanites gathered together in one army.

42 The Lamanite King Ammoron joined them there.

43 Moroni, Lehi, and Teancum surrounded the Land of Moroni with their armies.

44 The Lamanites camped in the City of Moroni in the south-east of the land.

45 The Nephites and the Lamanites were both tired because of the chasing.

46 They all wanted to rest, except Teancum.

47 Teancum was filled with anger for Ammoron and his dead brother Amalickiah.

48 Teancum believed they were the reason for the terrible war between the Nephites and the Lamanites which was the reason for the deaths of thousands.

49 Teancum was compelled by this anger to climb over the walls and sneak into the City of Moroni.

50 He moved quietly through the camp until he found King Ammoron's tent.

51 Teancum thrust a javelin into the king's chest near his heart.

52 King Ammoron was not killed immediately, and was able to wake his guards before he died.

53 Teancum was chased down and killed.

54 When Lehi and Moroni had learned that Teancum had been killed, they were filled with sorrow.

55 They had all fought alongside one another for the freedom and liberty of their country.

56 They decided to honor his memory be committed to riving the Lamanites out of the Republic of Zarahemla once and for all and ending this war.

57 The next Morning Moroni marched his army towards the Lamanites and killed many of them.

58 The Lamanites suffered such heavy losses that they were driven out of the Land of Moroni.

59 The Lamanites did not regroup and lead another attack against the Nephites.

60 This ended the 31st year of the reign of the judges.

61 This had been a long period of war, death, famine, murder, contentions, dissensions, harships, morality, and immorality for the Nephites.

62 Many of both the Nephites and the Lamanites had become hardened because of what they saw, while it gave others the chance to experience humility and soften.

63 Moroni fortified the borders of the Republic of Zarahemla where the Lamanites were most likely to invade.

64 Moroni then returned to the City of Zarahemla.

65 Helaman also returned to the City of Zarahemla.

66 There was once again peace in the Republic of Zarahemla.

67 Moroni retired as chief captain of the Republic of Zarahemla, and the position was given to Moroni's son, Moronihah.

68 Moroni lived in peace in his own home the rest of his life.

69 Pahoran returned to his position as chief judge of the Republic of Zarahemla.

70 Helaman started teaching morality to the Nephites again.

71 The Nephites had been through so much, and needed the guidance of a wise teacher to help them recover.

72 Helaman and other teachers of morality helped the Nephites once again recommit to living moral lives.

73 The government was rebuilt, and new judges and chief judges were chosen by the will of the people.

74 The Republic of Zarahemla began to prosper again.

75 The Republic became very rich and strong, but the Nephites were not filled with pride because of this.

76 They had resolved to live moral lives.

77 They knew that the only reason they had been able to repel the Lamanites was because of the morality of their leaders and teachers like Helaman, Moroni, Pahoran, Lehi, and Teancum.

78 The Nephites wanted to emulate the morality that these great men had shown.

79 In the 35th year of the reign of the judges, Helaman died.

--------------------Chapter 21--------------------

Traditionally composing of Alma 63

1 At the start of the 36th year of the reign of the judges, Shiblon, Helaman's beother and the son of Alma the Younger, took the writings that had been passed down from generation to generation and had been given to Helaman by Alma the Younger.

2 Shiblon was a good, moral man who sought to always choose the right as his brother did.

3 Moroni passed away in this year.

4 This ended the 36th year of the reign of the judges.

5 In the 37th year of the reign of the judges, 5,400 men, women, and children left the Republic of Zarahemla to settle the lands to the north of the republic.

6 They were lead by Hagoth, who was a very curious and adventureous man.

7 He built a large boat on the borders of the Lands of Bountiful and the Lands of Desolation.

8 He set sail into the west sea in the narrow neck to travel northward.

9 Many Nephite men, women, and children sil with him with enough provisions for them all.

9 This ended the 37th year of the reign of the judges.

10 In the 38th year of the reign of the judges, Hagoth returned and built more boats.

11 Hagoth set sail with ships full of people and provisions once again for the lands to the north.

12 They were never heard from again by this generation.

13 Another ship followed Hagoth's and was also never heard from again.

14 This ended the 38th year.

15 In the 39th year of the reign of the judges, Shiblon also died.

16 Corianton had gone to the lands in the north in a ship to deliever provisions.

17 This is why Shiblon gave the writings of their ancestors to Helaman's son, who was named Helaman the Younger.

18 These writings were very important to the Nephites, and especially to Helaman the Younger's family.

19 They had been handed down from generation to generation from the time of Nephi.

20 In this same year there were Nephite dissenters who joined the Lamanites and spread the desire for war against the Nephites.

21 The Lamanites sent many soldiers to wage war against the Nephites and test the armies of Moronihah.

22 Moronihah was able to defeat them and drive the Lamanites back into their own lands, but at a great price.

23 This ended the 39th year of the reign of the judges.