Alma — Chapter 2
1 At the beginning of the fifth year of the judges, there began to be an argument among the people. A very smart and tricky man named Amlici — a man just like the one who killed Gideon and was killed by law —
2 This Amlici got many people to follow him by being very tricky. His people got very strong, so they tried to make Amlici king over the people.
3 This made all the people of the church and all who did not follow Amlici very afraid, because they knew the law said that the people had to choose such a thing.
4 If Amlici, a wicked man, could get enough people to vote for him, he would take away the people’s right to worship, because he wanted to destroy God’s church.
5 After lots of arguing and fighting with each other, the people gathered together in all parts of the land and voted for or against Amlici.
6 They voted, and the votes were taken to the judges.
7 The vote went against Amlici, so he was not made king over the people.
8 This made those who had voted against Amlici very happy. But Amlici made his followers very angry against those who had not voted for him.
9 So they gathered together and made Amlici their king.
10 When Amlici became their king, he commanded them to take their weapons against their brothers and sisters so he could be king over them, too.
11 Amlici’s people were called Amlicites. The rest of the people were called Nephites, or the people of God.
12 The Nephites knew what the Amlicites wanted to do, so they got ready for them. They took their swords and cimeters and bows and arrows and slings and all other kinds of weapons.
13 They were ready to meet the Amlicites when they came against them. They had captains, and higher captains, and chief captains, depending on how many of them there were.
14 Amlici also had his men take up all kinds of weapons, and he made rulers and leaders over them to lead them to war against their brothers and sisters.
15 The Amlicites came up on the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon that ran by the land of Zarahemla. They began to fight the Nephites there.
16 Alma, the chief judge and ruler of the Nephites, led the armies with his captains and chief captains as they went to fight the Amlicites.
17 They began to kill the Amlicites on the hill east of Sidon. The Amlicites fought hard with the Nephites, so many Nephites were killed.
18 But the Lord gave the Nephites strength. The Nephites killed so many Amlicites that the rest began to run away from the Nephites.
19 The Nephites chased after the Amlicites all that day and killed many of them. Twelve thousand five hundred thirty-two Amlicites were killed, and six thousand five hundred sixty-two Nephites were killed.
20 When Alma could not chase after the Amlicites anymore, he had his people set up their tents to camp for the night in the valley of Gideon, which had been named after the Gideon whom Nehor killed.
21 But Alma sent spies to follow the rest of the Amlicites to find out what they were planning to do, so he could protect his people from being destroyed by them.
22 The chief spies whom he sent with their men to watch the Amlicites were called Zeram, Amnor, Manti, and Limher.
23 They came back quickly to the Nephites’ camp the next day with great fear and surprise, saying:
24 “We followed the Amlicites. Then in the land of Minon, above the land of Zarahemla, near the land of Nephi, we saw a countless army of Lamanites. The Amlicites have joined them.
25 “They have begun to fight our brothers in that land, and they are running away from them with their flocks and wives and children to our city. If we do not go quickly, they will take over our city and kill our parents and wives and children.”
26 So the Nephites took their tents and left the valley of Gideon to go back to the city of Zarahemla.
27 As they crossed the river Sidon, the Lamanites and Amlicites came on them to destroy them. There seemed to be as many of them as grains of sand by the sea.
28 But the Nephites had prayed hard to the Lord to save them from their enemies. The Lord heard their prayers, and made the Nephites strong, so they began killing the Lamanites and Amlicites.
29 Alma fought with Amlici face to face, and they fought hard against each other with their swords.
30 Then Alma, who was a man of God, used his faith and prayed: “O Lord, have mercy and save my life, so I may be a tool in your hands to save and protect this people.”
31 When he said this, he fought with Amlici again, and he was strong enough to kill Amlici with his sword.
32 He also fought with the Lamanite king. But the Lamanite king ran away from Alma and sent his guards to fight against him.
33 Alma and his guards fought the Lamanite king’s guards until they had killed them and beaten them back.
34 Alma cleared the west side of the river Sidon, and threw the Lamanites’ bodies into it, so his people would have room to cross and fight against the Lamanites on the west side of the river Sidon.
35 When they had all crossed the river Sidon, the Lamanites and Amlicites began to run away from them, even though there were still so many of them that they could not be counted.
36 They ran from the Nephites toward the northwest wilderness, far past the borders of the land. The Nephites chased them as hard as they could, and killed them.
37 Yes, they were fought wherever they went, and were scattered in the west and north, until they got to the wilderness called Hermounts, where wild and hungry animals lived.
38 Many had been hurt. They died in the wilderness, and their bodies were eaten up by those animals and by the vultures, and their bones were found and piled up on the ground.
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