Moroni Prepares Nephites for War

Event 111

Reference: Alma 48:7-25; 49:1-30

Now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus beenobtaining power by fraud and deceit, Moroni, on the otherhand, had been preparing the minds of the people to befaithful unto the Lord their God. 8 Yea, he had beenstrengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting smallforts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth roundabout to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stoneto encircle them about, round about their cities and theborders of their lands; yea, all round about the land. 9 Andin their weakest fortifications he did place the greaternumber of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen theland which was possessed by the Nephites. 10 And thus hewas preparing to support their liberty, their lands, theirwives, and their children, and their peace, and that theymight live unto the Lord their God, and that they mightmaintain that which was called by their enemies the causeof Christians.MormonNephite landsnear land ofZarahemla73 B.C.11 And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was aman of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did notdelight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in theliberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethrenfrom bondage and slavery; 12 Yea, a man whose heart didswell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privilegesand blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a manwho did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of hispeople. 13 Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faithof Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend hispeople, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even tothe loss of his blood.14 Now the Nephites were taught to defend themselvesagainst their enemies, even to the shedding of blood if itwere necessary; yea, and they were also taught never togive an offense, yea, and never to raise the sword except itwere against an enemy, except it were to preserve theirlives. 15 And this was their faith, that by so doing Godwould prosper them in the land, or in other words, if theywere faithful in keeping the commandments of God that hewould prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, orto prepare for war, according to their danger; 16 And also,that God would make it known unto them whither they should go to defend themselves against their enemies, andby so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and this was thefaith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not in theshedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving hispeople, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea,and resisting iniquity.MormonNephite landsnear land ofZarahemla73 B.C.17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been,and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, thevery powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea,the devil would never have power over the hearts of thechildren of men. 18 Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon,the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah,yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men ofGod. 19 Now behold, Helaman and his brethren were no lessserviceable unto the people than was Moroni; for they didpreach the word of God, and they did baptize untorepentance all men whosoever would hearken unto theirwords.20 And thus they went forth, and the people did humblethemselves because of their words, insomuch that they werehighly favored of the Lord, and thus they were free fromwars and contentions among themselves, yea, even for thespace of four years. 21 But, as I have said, in the latter endof the nineteenth year, yea, notwithstanding their peaceamongst themselves, they were compelled reluctantly tocontend with their brethren, the Lamanites. 22 Yea, and infine, their wars never did cease for the space of many yearswith the Lamanites, notwithstanding their much reluctance.23 Now, they were sorry to take up arms against theLamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding ofblood; yea, and this was not all—they were sorry to be themeans of sending so many of their brethren out of thisworld into an eternal world, unprepared to meet their God.24 Nevertheless, they could not suffer to lay down theirlives, that their wives and their children should bemassacred by the barbarous cruelty of those who were oncetheir brethren, yea, and had dissented from their church, andhad left them and had gone to destroy them by joining theLamanites. 25 Yea, they could not bear that their brethrenshould rejoice over the blood of the Nephites, so long asthere were any who should keep the commandments ofGod, for the promise of the Lord was, if they should keephis commandments they should prosper in the land. 1 AND now it came to pass in the eleventh month of thenineteenth year, on the tenth day of the month, the armies ofthe Lamanites were seen approaching towards the land ofAmmonihah. 2 And behold, the city had been rebuilt, andMoroni had stationed an army by the borders of the city,and they had cast up dirt round about to shield them fromthe arrows and the stones of the Lamanites; for behold, theyfought with stones and with arrows. 3 Behold, I said that thecity of Ammonihah had been rebuilt. I say unto you, yea,that it was in part rebuilt; and because the Lamanites haddestroyed it once because of the iniquity of the people, theysupposed that it would again become an easy prey for them.4 But behold, how great was their disappointment; forbehold, the Nephites had dug up a ridge of earth roundabout them, which was so high that the Lamanites could notcast their stones and their arrows at them that they mighttake effect, neither could they come upon them save it wasby their place of entrance.MormonLand ofAmmonihah73 B.C.5 Now at this time the chief captains of the Lamanites wereastonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of theNephites in preparing their places of security. 6 Now theleaders of the Lamanites had supposed, because of thegreatness of their numbers, yea, they supposed that theyshould be privileged to come upon them as they hadhitherto done; yea, and they had also prepared themselveswith shields, and with breastplates; and they had alsoprepared themselves with garments of skins, yea, very thickgarments to cover their nakedness. 7 And being thusprepared they supposed that they should easily overpowerand subject their brethren to the yoke of bondage, or slayand massacre them according to their pleasure. 8 Butbehold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were preparedfor them, in a manner which never had been known amongthe children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for theLamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions ofMoroni.9 And it came to pass that the Lamanites, or theAmalickiahites, were exceedingly astonished at theirmanner of preparation for war. 10 Now, if king Amalickiahhad come down out of the land of Nephi, at the head of hisarmy, perhaps he would have caused the Lamanites to haveattacked the Nephites at the city of Ammonihah; for behold,he did care not for the blood of his people. 11 But behold,Amalickiah did not come down himself to battle. And behold, his chief captains durst not attack the Nephites atthe city of Ammonihah, for Moroni had altered themanagement of affairs among the Nephites, insomuch thatthe Lamanites were disappointed in their places of retreatand they could not come upon them.MormonLand ofAmmonihah73 B.C.12 Therefore they retreated into the wilderness, and tooktheir camp and marched towards the land of Noah,supposing that to be the next best place for them to comeagainst the Nephites.Wilderness nearland of Noah13 For they knew not that Moroni had fortified, or had builtforts of security, for every city in all the land round about;therefore, they marched forward to the land of Noah with afirm determination; yea, their chief captains came forwardand took an oath that they would destroy the people of thatcity. 14 But behold, to their astonishment, the city of Noah,which had hitherto been a weak place, had now, by themeans of Moroni, become strong, yea, even to exceed thestrength of the city Ammonihah. 15 And now, behold, thiswas wisdom in Moroni; for he had supposed that theywould be frightened at the city Ammonihah; and as the cityof Noah had hitherto been the weakest part of the land,therefore they would march thither to battle; and thus it wasaccording to his desires.City of Noah16 And behold, Moroni had appointed Lehi to be chiefcaptain over the men of that city; and it was that same Lehiwho fought with the Lamanites in the valley on the east ofthe river Sidon.17 And now behold it came to pass, that when the Lamaniteshad found that Lehi commanded the city they were againdisappointed, for they feared Lehi exceedingly;nevertheless their chief captains had sworn with an oath toattack the city; therefore, they brought up their armies.18 Now behold, the Lamanites could not get into their fortsof security by any other way save by the entrance, becauseof the highness of the bank which had been thrown up, andthe depth of the ditch which had been dug round about, saveit were by the entrance. 19 And thus were the Nephitesprepared to destroy all such as should attempt to climb upto enter the fort by any other way, by casting over stonesand arrows at them. 20 Thus they were prepared, yea, a bodyof their strongest men, with their swords and their slings, to smite down all who should attempt to come into their placeof security by the place of entrance; and thus were theyprepared to defend themselves against the Lamanites.MormonCity of Noah73 B.C.21 And it came to pass that the captains of the Lamanitesbrought up their armies before the place of entrance, andbegan to contend with the Nephites, to get into their placeof security; but behold, they were driven back from time totime, insomuch that they were slain with an immenseslaughter. 22 Now when they found that they could notobtain power over the Nephites by the pass, they began todig down their banks of earth that they might obtain a passto their armies, that they might have an equal chance tofight; but behold, in these attempts they were swept off bythe stones and arrows which were thrown at them; andinstead of filling up their ditches by pulling down the banksof earth, they were filled up in a measure with their deadand wounded bodies.23 Thus the Nephites had all power over their enemies; andthus the Lamanites did attempt to destroy the Nephites untiltheir chief captains were all slain; yea, and more than athousand of the Lamanites were slain; while, on the otherhand, there was not a single soul of the Nephites which wasslain. 24 There were about fifty who were wounded, whohad been exposed to the arrows of the Lamanites throughthe pass, but they were shielded by their shields, and theirbreastplates, and their head-plates, insomuch that theirwounds were upon their legs, many of which were verysevere.25 And it came to pass, that when the Lamanites saw thattheir chief captains were all slain they fled into thewilderness.WildernessAnd it came to pass that they returned to the land of Nephi,to inform their king, Amalickiah, who was a Nephite bybirth, concerning their great loss.Land of Nephi26 And it came to pass that he was exceedingly angry withhis people, because he had not obtained his desire over theNephites; he had not subjected them to the yoke ofbondage. 27 Yea, he was exceedingly wroth, and he didcurse God, and also Moroni, swearing with an oath that hewould drink his blood; and this because Moroni had keptthe commandments of God in preparing for the safety of hispeople. 28 And it came to pass, that on the other hand, the people ofNephi did thank the Lord their God, because of hismatchless power in delivering them from the hands of theirenemies. 29 And thus ended the nineteenth year of the reignof the judges over the people of Nephi. 30 Yea, and therewas continual peace among them, and exceedingly greatprosperity in the church because of their heed and diligencewhich they gave unto the word of God, which was declaredunto them by Helaman, and Shiblon, and Corianton, andAmmon and his brethren, yea, and by all those who hadbeen ordained by the holy order of God, being baptizedunto repentance, and sent forth to preach among the people.MormonNephite landsnear land ofZarahemla73 B.C.