Third Nephi — Chapter 3
1 During the sixteenth year after Christ’s birth, the leader of the Gadianton robbers sent a letter to Lachoneus, the Nephites’ chief judge, saying:
2 “Great chief judge Lachoneus, I am writing to tell you that I admire you and your people for fighting so well to protect what you call your freedom. You are fighting so well that it almost seems you have a god helping protect you and what you say are your lands and property.
3 “It seems a shame to me, great Lachoneus, that you would be so foolish as to think you will be able to win against all my many brave men, who are ready right now to come to war against you. They are just waiting for me to say, ‘Go down and destroy the Nephites.’
4 “I know how brave they are, and what good fighters they are, and how much they hate you because of all of the bad things you have done to them, so I know they would completely destroy you if I told them to.
5 “I have sent this letter to you (which I have written myself) for your own good, because I do so admire how bravely you have fought for what you think is right.
6 “I am giving you this chance to give up all your cities and lands and everything you own to my people, so they will not have to come and destroy you.
7 “Give yourselves up, join us, learn our secrets, and become our brothers — not our slaves — and share all our things
8 “If you do this, I promise you will not be destroyed. But if you don’t do this, I promise that next month I will command my men to come to war against you, and they will kill every one of you.
9 “I am Giddianhi. I am the leader of the Gadianton group. I know our group and the things we do are good. Our secrets are very old and they have been handed down to us by our ancestors.
10 “I am writing this letter to you, Lachoneus, and I hope you will give up your lands and everything you own without our having to kill you, so my people will get their lands and freedom back. They left your people because you wickedly decided to rule over them in the land. If you do not do what I say, I will help them get even. I am Giddianhi.”
11 Now when Lachoneus read this letter, he was very surprised at how boldly Giddianhi told the Nephites to give up their land. He was surprised that Giddianhi said he wanted to help his people get even, because the Nephites had not done anything bad to Giddianhi’s people. The Nephites who had left had chosen to do that themselves. They had wanted to join the wicked and awful robbers.
12 Lachoneus, the chief judge, was a righteous man, and he was not afraid of what the robbers said they would do, so he did listen to Giddianhi. Instead, he made his people pray to the Lord to be strong enough to defeat the robbers when they came against them.
13 He told all the people to gather their families and children and flocks and herds and all they had into one place in the land.
14 He built forts and walls all around them. He made the armies of the Nephites and Lamanites (who were counted as Nephites) watch over the people and protect them from the robbers day and night.
15 Yes, he said to them: “As the Lord lives, if you do not repent of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord, you will not be saved from the Gadianton robbers.”
16 Lachoneus’ words and prophecies were so great that the people were afraid, and they tried as hard as they could to do what he said.
17 Lachoneus chose captains to lead the Nephite armies against the robbers when they came against them.
18 The chief captain of all the armies was chosen, and his name was Gidgiddoni.
19 The Nephites almost always chose chief captains who had the spirit of revelation and prophecy, except during times of wickedness, so this man Gidgiddoni was a great prophet, just as Lachoneus was.
20 Now the people said to Gidgiddoni: “Pray to the Lord, and then let us go into the mountains and destroy the robbers while they are still in their own lands.”
21 But Gidgiddoni said: “God forbid we should do this! If we go against them first, the Lord will let them defeat us. We will prepare for them in the middle of our land, and we will gather our armies together. We will not go against them first, but we will wait until they come against us. As the Lord lives, if we do this, he will help us defeat them.”
22 During the seventeenth year, near the end of the year, Lachoneus commanded the people to bring their horses and chariots and cattle and sheep and grain and everything they owned to the place they had built to protect themselves against their enemies. The people came by the thousands and tens of thousands.
23 The land of Zarahemla, and the land between Zarahemla and Bountiful, up to the land of Desolation, had been chosen as the place the people would gather.
24 There were many thousands of Nephites who gathered together in this land. Lachoneus had had them gather in the south lands because of the awful curse on the north lands.
25 They built forts and walls to protect themselves against their enemies, and they all lived together in one group in one land. They repented of all their sins, and they prayed to God to save them when their enemies came against them, because they were afraid of what Lachoneus had said.
26 They were very sad and afraid because of their enemies. Gidgiddoni had them make weapons of every kind, and armor, and shields.
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