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Alma — Chapter 14

¹ After Alma was done talking to the people, many believed what he said, and began to repent and to study the scriptures.

² But most of them wanted to destroy Alma and Amulek. They were angry with Alma because of what he had plainly said to Zeezrom. They also said that Amulek had lied to them and had said bad things against their law and against their lawyers and judges.

³ They were also angry with Alma and Amulek because they had told them so plainly about their wickedness. They wanted to get rid of them secretly,

⁴ But they did not. Instead, they tied them up with strong cords and took them before the chief judge of the land.

⁵ The people witnessed against them, saying that they had said bad things against their law and against their lawyers and judges, and against all the people in the land. The people also said that Alma and Amulek had said there was only one God who would send his Son among the people, but that the Son would not save them. The people said many such things against Alma and Amulek before the chief judge of the land.

⁶ Zeezrom was amazed at what they said and knew that their minds were blind because he had lied to them. His soul began to be pained because of his own guilt. Yes, he began to feel the pains of hell around him.

⁷ He began to shout to the people: “I am guilty. These men are holy before God.” He began to defend them from then on, but the people said to him: “Does the devil have power over you, too?” They spit on him and threw him out. They threw out and began to stone all those who believed what Alma and Amulek had said.

⁸ Then they brought the wives and children [of the men who believed] together, along with everyone else who believed or had been taught to believe in God, so they could throw them into the fire. They took their records and scriptures and threw them into the fire to be burned.

⁹ They took Alma and Amulek to the killing place so they would have to watch the people burn to death.

¹⁰ When Amulek saw the pains of the women and children being burned, he was full of pain, and said to Alma: “How can we watch this? Let’s use God’s power in us to save them from the fire.”

¹¹ But Alma said to him: “The Spirit has told me not to save them, because the Lord is taking them home to him in glory. He is letting the wicked do this so that when he punishes them, his judgment will be fair. The blood of these good people will be a strong witness against them at the last day.”

¹² Then Amulek said to Alma: “Maybe they will burn us, too.”

¹³ And Alma said: “The Lord’s will be done. But our work here is not done, so they will not burn us.”

¹⁴ When all the people’s bodies and all the scriptures which had been thrown into the fire were burned up, the chief judge came to Alma and Amulek, who were tied up. He hit them on their cheeks, and said to them: “After what you have seen, will you still teach this people that they are going to be thrown into a lake of fire?

¹⁵ “You see that you did not have any power to save those who were thrown into the fire. God did not save them even though they believed in your religion.” Then the judge hit their cheeks again and said: “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

¹⁶ This judge believed the things taught by Nehor, who had killed Gideon.

¹⁷ Alma and Amulek did not answer him. Then the chief judge hit them again and had the guards throw them into prison.

¹⁸ When they had been in prison for three days, many lawyers and judges and priests and teachers who believed Nehor’s words came and asked them many questions, but Alma and Amulek did not say anything to them.

¹⁹ Then the judge came to them and said: “Why aren’t you answering their questions? Don’t you know I have the power to throw you into the fire?” He commanded them to talk, but they would not say anything.

²⁰ Then they all went on their way, but came back the next day, and the chief judge hit them on their cheeks again. Many others came and hit them, saying: “Are you going to stand and judge this people again and say bad things against our law? If you have so much power, why don’t you save yourselves?”

²¹ They said many other things to them, spitting on them, and saying: “How will we look when we are damned?”

²² They did all these kinds of things to them and more, and made fun of them for many days. They would not give them food or water, so they were hungry and thirsty. They took away their clothes, so they were naked. They were tied up with strong cords and left in prison.

²³ After they had suffered this way for many days, on the twelfth day in the tenth month of the tenth year of the judges, the chief judge over the land of Ammonihah and many of the teachers and lawyers went into the prison where Alma and Amulek were tied up with cords.

²⁴ The chief judge stood before them and hit them again, saying: “If you have God’s power, save yourself from these cords, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people as you have said.”

²⁵ They all said the same thing to them, from first to last. When the last one had said this to them, God’s power was with Alma and Amulek, and they stood up.

²⁶ Alma prayed: “How long do we have to suffer these great troubles, O Lord? O Lord, give us the strength we need to save ourselves, by our faith in Christ.” Then they broke the cords they were tied up with. When the people saw this, they began to run away, because they were afraid they would be destroyed.

²⁷ They were so afraid, they fell on the ground and did not get out of the prison. Then the earth shook strongly, and the prison walls broke in two and fell down. The chief judge, and the lawyers and priests and teachers who had hit Alma and Amulek were all killed.

²⁸ Alma and Amulek came out of the prison, and they were not hurt. The Lord had given them power because of their faith in Christ. They came out of the prison, and the cords on them were untied. The prison walls had fallen down, and everyone inside had been killed except for Alma and Amulek, and they went right into the city.

²⁹ The people came running because they had heard a great noise and wanted to know about it. When they saw Alma and Amulek coming out of the prison, and that the prison walls had fallen down, they were very afraid and ran away from Alma and Amulek as a mother goat and her babies run away from two lions.