Alma — Chapter 17
Chapters 17–26: Alma’s record of Mosiah’s sons, who gave up the kingdom to go to the land of Nephi and teach the gospel to the Lamanites.
1 While Alma was traveling south from the land of Gideon to the land of Manti, to his great surprise, he met Mosiah’s sons traveling toward Zarahemla.ad.
2 Mosiah’s sons had been with him when he first saw the angel, so Alma was very happy to see them. What made him even more happy was learning that they were still his brothers in the Lord. Yes, they had become strong in the knowledge of the truth. They understood the gospel well because they had studied the scriptures very hard to know God’s word.
3 But this was not all. They had also prayed and fasted a lot, so they had the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with God’s power.
4 They had taught the gospel among the Lamanites for fourteen years, and had had great success in bringing many of them to know the truth. Yes, many came and prayed to God to repent of their sins because of what Mosiah’s sons taught.
5 This is what happened to them while they traveled. They had many troubles and tests, both in body and spirit. They got hungry and thirsty and tired, and worked hard in spirit, too.
6 This is the story of their travels. After they gave up the kingdom that their father, King Mosiah, and the people wanted to give them, they left their father in the first year of the judges.
7 They left the land of Zarahemla, taking their swords and spears and bows and arrows and slings with them so they could hunt for food to eat while in the wilderness.
8 They left with those whom they had chosen to go up to the land of Nephi to teach the gospel to the Lamanites.
9 After they had traveled in the wilderness for many days, they fasted and prayed a lot for the Lord to give them his Spirit to be with them, so they could be a tool in God’s hands to bring their brothers and sisters, the Lamanites, to a knowledge of the true gospel and of their ancestors’ false teachings.
10 The Lord sent his Spirit and said to them: “Be comforted.” And they were comforted.
11 The Lord also said to them: “Go among your brothers and sisters, the Lamanites, and build up my gospel. Be patient in your troubles and tests so you will be good examples for them in me, and I will make you tools in my hands to save many souls.”
12 This gave Mosiah’s sons and those who were with them courage to go teach the Lamanites the gospel.
13 They decided to each go a different way when they came to the borders of the Lamanites’ lands, because there was so much work to do. They trusted God that they would meet each other again when the work was done.
14 It was lots of work, because they had decided to teach the gospel to a hard and wild and terrible people who loved to murder and rob the Nephites. The Lamanites loved gold and silver and rich stones, and they got these by robbing rather than by working for them.
15 They were a very lazy people, and worshiped false gods. God’s curse was on them because of their ancestors’ teachings. Even so, the Lord’s promise was given to them if they would repent.
16 This was why Mosiah’s sons had taken on this work, so they might help the Lamanites repent and learn about the plan of salvation.
17 So they each went a different way alone among the Lamanites by the word and power of God in them.
18 Ammon was their leader, or in other words, he blessed and taught them what they should do. Then he left them, and they went their different ways in the land.
19 Ammon went to the land of Ishmael, named for one of the sons of Ishmael whose descendants had become Lamanites.
20 When Ammon came into the land of Ishmael, the Lamanites tied him up and took him to the king, which they did with all Nephites. The king did what he wanted with Nephites — making them slaves, throwing them in prison, or throwing them out of the land.
21 Ammon was taken to the king over the land of Ishmael. The king’s name was Lamoni, and he was one of Ishmael’s descendants.
22 The king asked Ammon if he wanted to live in his people’s land.
23 Ammon said to him: “Yes, I want to live with this people for a time, and maybe until the day I die.”
24 King Lamoni liked Ammon very much and had him untied. He wanted Ammon to marry one of his daughters.
25 But Ammon said to him: “No, but I will be your servant.” So Ammon became one of the king’s servants, and he was sent with other servants to watch King Lamoni’s flocks.
26 After he had been the king’s servant for three days, he and the other servants took the sheep to the watering place, called the Waters of Sebus, where all the Lamanites took their sheep.
27 While Ammon and the king’s other servants took the flocks to this place, some of the other Lamanites who had their flocks there chased away the king’s sheep, so they were scattered all over.
28 Then the king’s servants said: “The king will kill us just like he killed our brothers, because these wicked men have scattered the flocks.” They began to weep a lot, saying: “Look, our flocks have already been scattered.”
29 They wept because they were afraid they would be killed. When Ammon saw this, his heart was filled with joy, because he thought: “I will show my fellow servants the power of God in me by gathering the king’s flocks, so I can help these servants believe what I say.”
30 This was what Ammon thought when he saw the troubles of his Lamanite brothers.
31 So he made them feel better by saying: “Cheer up, my brothers. Let’s look for the flocks. We will gather them and bring them back to this watering place. That way we will save the king’s flocks and he won’t kill us.”
32 So they followed Ammon and quickly gathered the king’s flocks, and took them back to the watering place.
33 Then those wicked men tried to scatter the flocks again, but Ammon said to his brothers: “Surround the flocks so they won’t run away. I will fight with the men who are trying to scatter them.”
34 They did what Ammon commanded them to do, and he went to fight those who were at the Waters of Sebus. There were many of them.
35 They were not afraid of Ammon, because they thought that any of them could kill him if they wanted. They did not know that the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would save his sons from their enemies. They did not know anything about the Lord, so they liked to destroy their brothers. This was why they tried to scatter the king’s flocks.
36 But Ammon began to use his sling to throw stones at them. He threw them with such great power that some of them were killed. They began to be amazed at his power, but they were angry because he had killed some of their brothers, so they wanted to kill him. When they saw that they could not hit him with their stones, they came with their clubs to kill him.
37 But Ammon used his sword and cut off the arms of everyone who tried to use their clubs to hit him. They began to be amazed and afraid. Yes, they began to run away from him, even though there were many of them. His power made them run away.
38 Ammon killed six men with his sling, but he killed only one (their leader) with his sword. He cut off the arms of those who tried to hit him with their clubs. There were many arms.
39 When he had chased them far away, he came back. The king’s servants gave the flocks water and took them back to the king’s field. Then they went to the king, taking with them the arms of those who had tried to kill Ammon as a witness of the things he had done.
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