easyreadbkmormon.com

Alma — Chapter 3

¹ After the Nephites buried those killed in the war (and there were so many of them that they could not be counted), they all went back to their lands, and their houses, and their wives and children.

² Many women and children had been killed, and also many of their flocks and herds. Many of their fields of grain had been destroyed by the armies walking on them.

³ The bodies of the Lamanites and Amlicites killed on the bank of the river Sidon were thrown into the river, and their bones are now at the bottom of the sea. There were many of them.

⁴ The Amlicites had put a red mark on their foreheads to show that they were not Nephites, like the Lamanites did, but they had not cut off their hair like the Lamanites.

⁵ The Lamanites had cut off their hair and were naked, except for a skin around their hips and the armor they tied on themselves. They had bows and arrows and stones and slings, and so on.

⁶ The Lamanites’ skin was dark. God had cursed their ancestors because of their wickedness and rebellion against their brothers Nephi, Jacob, Joseph, and Sam, who were good and holy men.

⁷ When they tried to destroy them, they were cursed. The Lord marked Laman and Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, and their women.

⁸ This was done so the Nephites could tell the difference between their children and their brothers’ and sisters’ children, so God could save his people — so they would not marry the Lamanites and believe in wrong teachings which would destroy them.

⁹ Whoever married the Lamanites had children who had the same curse.

¹⁰ So whoever joined the Lamanites put a mark on their foreheads.

¹¹ Whoever did not believe in the Lamanites’ teachings, but believed in the records brought out of Jerusalem, and in the true things their ancestors taught, and in God’s commandments (and kept them), were called Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time on.

¹² They are the ones who kept the true records about themselves and the Lamanites.

¹³ Now we will talk more about the Amlicites. They had put red marks on their foreheads.

¹⁴ So God’s words to Nephi came true. God said: “I have cursed the Lamanites. I put a mark on them so your children and their children will not mix with each other. This is how it will be forever, unless they repent and come back to me so I can have mercy on them.”

¹⁵ And again: “I will mark whoever marries your brothers and sisters, the Lamanites, with the same curse.”

¹⁶ And again: “I will mark whoever fights against you and your descendants.

¹⁷ “And again, I say that whoever leaves you will not be called your descendants anymore. I will bless you and your descendants forever.” This was what the Lord promised Nephi and his children.

¹⁸ The Amlicites did not know they were making God’s words come true when they put the mark on their foreheads. But they were openly fighting against God, so the curse came on them.

¹⁹ They brought the curse on themselves, just like every person who comes under a curse.

²⁰ Not long after the Lamanites and Amlicites fought the war in Zarahemla, another Lamanite army came against the Nephites in the same place the first Nephite army had fought the Amlicites.

²¹ So an army was sent to beat the Lamanites back out of the land.

²² Alma was hurt, so he did not go fight against the Lamanites this time.

²³ But he sent a large army against them, and they killed many Lamanites and beat the rest back to the borders of their land.

²⁴ Then the Nephites came back and began to have peace in the land. Their enemies left them alone for a time.

²⁵ All this happened during the fifth year of the judges.

²⁶ In one year, thousands and tens of thousands of souls were sent to the next life, where they would be rewarded with happiness or unhappiness for their good or evil works, depending on whether they had listened to God or to the devil.

²⁷ Everyone will get paid by whomever they obey. This is what the spirit of prophecy says, so may it happen in truth. This was how the fifth year of the judges ended.