Book of Mormon |
Annotations |
Chapter 4
|
|
1 And it came to pass in the fifty and fourth year there
were many dissensions in the church, and there was also a contention among
the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed.
|
|
2 And the rebellious part were slain and driven out of the
land, and they did go unto the king of the Lamanites.
|
|
3 And it came to pass that they did endeavor to stir up
the Lamanites to war against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites were
exceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to the words of
those dissenters.
|
|
4 But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the
reign of the judges, there were dissenters who went up from the Nephites unto
the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in stirring them up to
anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war.
|
|
5 And in the fifty and seventh year they did come down
against the Nephites to battle, and they did commence the work of death; yea,
insomuch that in the fifty and eighth year of the reign of the judges they
succeeded in obtaining possession of the land of Zarahemla; yea, and also all
the lands, even unto the land which was near the land Bountiful.
|
|
6 And the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven
even into the land of Bountiful;
|
|
7 And there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from
the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day’s journey for a Nephite, on
the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their
north country.
|
|
8 And thus those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help
of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the
Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this was done in the fifty
and eighth and ninth years of the reign of the judges.
|
|
9 And it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of
the judges, Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of
the land; yea, they regained many cities which had fallen into the hands of
the Lamanites.
|
|
10 And it came to pass in the sixty and first year of the
reign of the judges they succeeded in regaining even the half of all their
possessions.
|
|
11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great
slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for
their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was
among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.
|
|
12 And it was because of the pride of their hearts,
because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to
the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing
from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a
mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of
revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery,
rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi,
among the Lamanites—
|
|
13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their
boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength;
therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven
before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their
lands.
|
|
14 But behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the
people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons
of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy
many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto
them if they did not repent of their sins.
|
|
15 And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch
as they did repent they did begin to prosper.
|
Prosperity gospel.
|
16 For when Moronihah saw that they did repent he did
venture to lead them forth from place to place, and from city to city, even
until they had regained the one-half of their property and the one-half of
all their lands.
|
|
17 And thus ended the sixty and first year of the reign of
the judges.
|
|
18 And it came to pass in the sixty and second year of the
reign of the judges, that Moronihah could obtain no more possessions over the
Lamanites.
|
|
19 Therefore they did abandon their design to obtain the
remainder of their lands, for so numerous were the Lamanites that it became
impossible for the Nephites to obtain more power over them; therefore
Moronihah did employ all his armies in maintaining those parts which he had
taken.
|
|
20 And it came to pass, because of the greatness of the
number of the Lamanites the Nephites were in great fear, lest they should be
overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and destroyed.
|
|
21 Yea, they began to remember the prophecies of Alma, and
also the words of Mosiah; and they saw that they had been a stiffnecked
people, and that they had set at naught the commandments of God;
|
|
22 And that they had altered and trampled under their feet
the laws of Mosiah, or that which the Lord commanded him to give unto the
people; and they saw that their laws had become corrupted, and that they had
become a wicked people, insomuch that they were wicked even like unto the
Lamanites.
|
|
23 And because of their iniquity the church had begun to
dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the
spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face.
|
|
24 And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their
brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve
them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not
dwell in unholy temples—
|
|
25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his
miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief
and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more
numerous than they, and except they should cleave unto the Lord their God
they must unavoidably perish.
|
|
26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites
was as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they fallen
into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of
their transgression, in the space of not many years.
|
|