Moroni Defeats Lamanites at Hill Riplah

Event 105

Reference: Alma 43:27-54; 44:1-24

And it came to pass that Moroni caused that his armyshould be secreted in the valley which was near the bank ofthe river Sidon, which was on the west of the river Sidon inthe wilderness. 28 And Moroni placed spies round about,that he might know when the camp of the Lamanites shouldcome. 29 And now, as Moroni knew the intention of theLamanites, that it was their intention to destroy theirbrethren, or to subject them and bring them into bondagethat they might establish a kingdom unto themselves overall the land; 30 And he also knowing that it was the onlydesire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and theirliberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin thathe should defend them by stratagem; therefore, he found byhis spies which course the Lamanites were to take.MormonRiver Sidon nearland of Manti74 B.C.31 Therefore, he divided his army and brought a part overinto the valley, and concealed them on the east, and on thesouth of the hill Riplah; 32 And the remainder he concealedin the west valley, on the west of the river Sidon, and sodown into the borders of the land Manti. 33 And thus havingplaced his army according to his desire, he was prepared tomeet them.Hill Riplah nearland of Manti34 And it came to pass that the Lamanites came up on thenorth of the hill, where a part of the army of Moroni wasconcealed. 35 And as the Lamanites had passed the hillRiplah, and came into the valley, and began to cross theriver Sidon, the army which was concealed on the south ofthe hill, which was led by a man whose name was Lehi, andhe led his army forth and encircled the Lamanites about onthe east in their rear.36 And it came to pass that the Lamanites, when they sawthe Nephites coming upon them in their rear, turned themabout and began to contend with the army of Lehi. 37 Andthe work of death commenced on both sides, but it wasmore dreadful on the part of the Lamanites, for theirnakedness was exposed to the heavy blows of the Nephiteswith their swords and their cimeters, which brought deathalmost at every stroke. 38 While on the other hand, therewas now and then a man fell among the Nephites, by theirswords and the loss of blood, they being shielded from theRiver Sidon nearland of Manti more vital parts of the body, or the more vital parts of thebody being shielded from the strokes of the Lamanites, bytheir breastplates, and their armshields, and their head-plates; and thus the Nephites did carry on the work of deathamong the Lamanites.MormonRiver Sidon nearland of Manti74 B.C.39 And it came to pass that the Lamanites becamefrightened, because of the great destruction among them,even until they began to flee towards the river Sidon. 40 Andthey were pursued by Lehi and his men; and they weredriven by Lehi into the waters of Sidon, and they crossedthe waters of Sidon. And Lehi retained his armies upon thebank of the river Sidon that they should not cross.41 And it came to pass that Moroni and his army met theLamanites in the valley, on the other side of the river Sidon,and began to fall upon them and to slay them. 42 And theLamanites did flee again before them, towards the land ofManti; and they were met again by the armies of Moroni. 43Now in this case the Lamanites did fight exceedingly; yea,never had the Lamanites been known to fight with suchexceedingly great strength and courage, no, not even fromthe beginning. 44 And they were inspired by the Zoramitesand the Amalekites, who were their chief captains andleaders, and by Zerahemnah, who was their chief captain, ortheir chief leader and commander; yea, they did fight likedragons, and many of the Nephites were slain by theirhands, yea, for they did smite in two many of their head-plates, and they did pierce many of their breastplates, andthey did smite off many of their arms; and thus theLamanites did smite in their fierce anger.45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a bettercause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor powerbut they were fighting for their homes and their liberties,their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for theirrites of worship and their church. 46 And they were doingthat which they felt was the duty which they owed to theirGod; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto theirfathers, that:Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither thesecond, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands ofyour enemies.The Lord47 And again, the Lord has said that:MormonYe shall defend your families even unto bloodshed.The Lord Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending withthe Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, andtheir lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.MormonRiver Sidon nearland of Manti74 B.C.48 And it came to pass that when the men of Moroni saw thefierceness and the anger of the Lamanites, they were aboutto shrink and flee from them. And Moroni, perceiving theirintent, sent forth and inspired their hearts with thesethoughts—yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea,their freedom from bondage.49 And it came to pass that they turned upon the Lamanites,and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, fortheir liberty and their freedom from bondage. 50 And theybegan to stand against the Lamanites with power; and inthat selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for theirfreedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them; and theyfled even to the waters of Sidon.51 Now, the Lamanites were more numerous, yea, by morethan double the number of the Nephites; nevertheless, theywere driven insomuch that they were gathered together inone body in the valley, upon the bank by the river Sidon. 52Therefore the armies of Moroni encircled them about, yea,even on both sides of the river, for behold, on the east werethe men of Lehi. 53 Therefore when Zerahemnah saw themen of Lehi on the east of the river Sidon, and the armies ofMoroni on the west of the river Sidon, that they wereencircled about by the Nephites, they were struck withterror. 54 Now Moroni, when he saw their terror,commanded his men that they should stop shedding theirblood.1 AND it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew apace from them. And Moroni said unto Zerahemnah:Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Yeknow that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you. 2Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we mightshed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any oneto the yoke of bondage. But this is the very cause for which yehave come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of ourreligion.Moroni3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold thathe has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that yeshould understand that this is done unto us because of our religionand our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy thisour faith. 4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as weare faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; andnever will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except weshould fall into transgression and deny our faith.MoroniRiver Sidon nearland of Manti74 B.C.5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gainedpower over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites ofworship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which weowe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds usto our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance ofthe sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; andby all that is most dear unto us— 6 Yea, and this is not all; Icommand you by all the desires which ye have for life, that yedeliver up your weapons of war unto us, and we will seek not yourblood, but we will spare your lives, if ye will go your way andcome not again to war against us. 7 And now, if ye do not this,behold, ye are in our hands, and I will command my men that theyshall fall upon you, and inflict the wounds of death in your bodies,that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall havepower over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought intobondage.8 And now it came to pass that when Zerahemnah had heardthese sayings he came forth and delivered up his sword andhis cimeter, and his bow into the hands of Moroni, and saidunto him:MormonBehold, here are our weapons of war; we will deliver them up untoyou, but we will not suffer ourselves to take an oath unto you,which we know that we shall break, and also our children; but takeour weapons of war, and suffer that we may depart into thewilderness; otherwise we will retain our swords, and we willperish or conquer. 9 Behold, we are not of your faith; we do notbelieve that it is God that has delivered us into your hands; but webelieve that it is your cunning that has preserved you from ourswords. Behold, it is your breastplates and your shields that havepreserved you.Zerahemnah10 And now when Zerahemnah had made an end ofspeaking these words, Moroni returned the sword and theweapons of war, which he had received, unto Zerahemnah,saying:MormonBehold, we will end the conflict. 11 Now I cannot recall the wordswhich I have spoken, therefore as the Lord liveth, ye shall notdepart except ye depart with an oath that ye will not return againagainst us to war. Now as ye are in our hands we will spill yourblood upon the ground, or ye shall submit to the conditions whichI have proposed.Moroni12 And now when Moroni had said these words,Zerahemnah retained his sword, and he was angry withMormon Moroni, and he rushed forward that he might slay Moroni;but as he raised his sword, behold, one of Moroni’s soldierssmote it even to the earth, and it broke by the hilt; and healso smote Zerahemnah that he took off his scalp and it fellto the earth. And Zerahemnah withdrew from before theminto the midst of his soldiers.MormonRiver Sidon nearland of Manti74 B.C.13 And it came to pass that the soldier who stood by, whosmote off the scalp of Zerahemnah, took up the scalp fromoff the ground by the hair, and laid it upon the point of hissword, and stretched it forth unto them, saying unto themwith a loud voice:14 Even as this scalp has fallen to the earth, which is the scalp ofyour chief, so shall ye fall to the earth except ye will deliver upyour weapons of war and depart with a covenant of peace.Nephite Soldier15 Now there were many, when they heard these words andsaw the scalp which was upon the sword, that were struckwith fear; and many came forth and threw down theirweapons of war at the feet of Moroni, and entered into acovenant of peace. And as many as entered into a covenantthey suffered to depart into the wilderness.Mormon16 Now it came to pass that Zerahemnah was exceedinglywroth, and he did stir up the remainder of his soldiers toanger, to contend more powerfully against the Nephites. 17And now Moroni was angry, because of the stubbornness ofthe Lamanites; therefore he commanded his people thatthey should fall upon them and slay them.And it came to pass that they began to slay them; yea, andthe Lamanites did contend with their swords and theirmight. 18 But behold, their naked skins and their bare headswere exposed to the sharp swords of the Nephites; yea,behold they were pierced and smitten, yea, and did fallexceedingly fast before the swords of the Nephites; andthey began to be swept down, even as the soldier of Moronihad prophesied. 19 Now Zerahemnah, when he saw thatthey were all about to be destroyed, cried mightily untoMoroni, promising that he would covenant and also hispeople with them, if they would spare the remainder of theirlives, that they never would come to war again againstthem.20 And it came to pass that Moroni caused that the work ofdeath should cease again among the people. And he tookthe weapons of war from the Lamanites; and after they hadWilderness entered into a covenant with him of peace they weresuffered to depart into the wilderness. 21 Now the number oftheir dead was not numbered because of the greatness of thenumber; yea, the number of their dead was exceedinglygreat, both on the Nephites and on the Lamanites.MormonWilderness74 B.C.22 And it came to pass that they did cast their dead into thewaters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are buried inthe depths of the sea.River Sidon nearland of Manti23 And the armies of the Nephites, or of Moroni, returnedand came to their houses and their lands. 24 And thus endedthe eighteenth year of the reign of the judges over thepeople of Nephi. And thus ended the record of Alma, whichwas written upon the plates of Nephi.Land ofZarahemla