Alma — Chapter 56
1 On the second day of the first month of the thirtieth year of the judges, Helaman sent a letter to Moroni to tell him how the people were doing in [his] part of the land.
2 He wrote: My very dear brother Moroni — my brother in the Lord and in war — I want to tell you something about how the war has been going in this part of the land.
3 Two thousand sons of the people Ammon brought from the land of Nephi, who were descendants of Laman, Lehi’s oldest son —
4 (Now, I don’t have to tell you about their teachings and unbelief; you know all about that) —
5 It is enough for me to tell you that these two thousand young men took up weapons and wanted me to be their leader, so we came to protect our country.
6 You also know about the promise their fathers made not to take up weapons to fight against their brothers.
7 But during the twenty-sixth year, when they saw all the troubles we had because of them, they were going to break their promise and take up weapons again to help us protect our country.
8 But I would not let them break this promise, because I believed God would not let their promise make our problems any bigger.
9 But here is something we can be very happy about: In the twenty-sixth year, I, Helaman, led these two thousand young men to the city of Judea to help Antipus, whom you had made leader over the people in that part of the land.
10 I and my two thousand sons (I think of them as sons) joined Antipus’s army and made it stronger. This made Antipus very happy, because the Lamanites had killed many of our men, which makes us sad.
11 But we are comforted by the thought that they died for their country and their God, and that they are happy now.
12 The Lamanites took many prisoners, all chief captains (because they killed everyone else). We think they are in the land of Nephi, if they have not been killed.
13 These are the cities the Lamanites took over by killing so many of our brave men:
14 The land or city of Manti, and the cities of Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah.
15 These are the cities they had taken over when I got to the city of Judea, where I found Antipus and his men working as hard as they could to make the city stronger.
16 They were sad and tired both in body and spirit, because they had been fighting bravely in the daytime and working hard at night to keep the cities strong. They had gone through all kinds of troubles.
17 They had chosen to win at this place or die trying, so you can imagine that the little army of my sons I brought with me gave them great hope and joy.
18 When the Lamanites saw that Antipus had gotten more men for his army, Ammoron commanded the Lamanites not to fight against us at the city of Judea.
19 This was a blessing from the Lord, because if they had come against us while we were so weak, they might have destroyed our little army, but we were saved.
20 Ammoron commanded the Lamanites to keep the cities they had taken over. This was how the twenty-sixth year ended. By the beginning of the twenty-seventh year, our city was ready and we were ready to protect it.
21 Now we wanted the Lamanites to come and fight us, because we did not want to try to go against them in their forts and cities.
22 We had spies watch what the Lamanites were doing so they could not get by us day or night to fight against our other cities in the north.
23 We knew we were not strong enough to fight them in those cities. If they passed by us, we wanted to be able to fight them from behind at the same time our other army fought them from the front. We thought we could defeat them that way, but they did not do what we wanted them to.
24 They were afraid to go past us with all of their army, and they were afraid to go past us with part of their army, in case they would not be strong enough and would be defeated.
25 They were also afraid to go past the city of Zarahemla, or cross over [the beginning of the river Sidon] to get to the city of Nephihah.
26 So they chose instead to use their armies to protect the cities they had taken over.
27 During the second month of that year, the parents of my two thousand sons sent us many supplies.
28 We were also sent two thousand men from the land of Zarahemla. So we had ten thousand men and enough supplies for them and their wives and children, too.
29 When the Lamanites saw us getting stronger every day, and getting more and more supplies, they began to be afraid, and began to come against us to try to stop us from getting more supplies and men.
30 When we saw the Lamanites worrying about this, we planned a trick for them. Antipus commanded me to go with my sons as if we were carrying supplies to a nearby city.
31 We were to go near the city of Antiparah as if we were going to the next city, near the sea.
32 So we went out as if carrying supplies to that city.
33 After we went out and came near the city of Antiparah, Antipus came out with part of his army, leaving the rest to protect the city.
34 The Lamanites’ strongest and biggest army was in the city of Antiparah.
35 When their spies told them about us, they sent their army against us.
36 We ran away from them to the north, leading away the Lamanites’ strongest army.
37 They followed us for a long way. Then when they saw Antipus and his army chasing them, they chased right after us. We think they were going to try to kill us before Antipus could catch up with them so we would not surround them.
38 When Antipus saw we were in danger, he made his army go faster. But night came, and the Lamanites had not caught up to us, nor had Antipus caught up to them. So we all camped for the night.
39 The Lamanites began to chase us the next morning before dawn. We were not strong enough to fight with them, and I would not let them catch my little sons, so we kept going into the wilderness.
40 The Lamanites could only go straight so as not to be surrounded. I had my army go straight so they would not catch up to us. We could not fight them, because we would be killed and they would get away, so we ran into the wilderness all that day until it got dark.
41 Again the next morning, when it began to get light, we saw the Lamanites coming upon us, so we ran away from them.
42 But they hadn’t chased us very far before they stopped. This was on the morning of the third day of the seventh month.
43 We did not know if Antipus and his army had caught up with them, but I said to my men: “We don’t know if they have stopped to try to trick us into fighting against them.
44 “What do you say, my sons? Do you want to fight them?”
45 I tell you, my dear brother Moroni, I have never seen greater courage — no, not even among the Nephites.
46 These young men whom I call my sons, who were all so very young, said to me: “Father, our God is with us, and he will not let us be defeated. Let us go fight. We would not kill our brothers if they would let us alone. Let us go fight so they will not defeat Antipus and his army.”
47 Now, they had never fought, but they were not afraid of death. They thought more of their families’ freedom than they did their own lives. Yes, their mothers had taught them that if they did not doubt, God would save them.
48 They told me what their mothers had told them, and said to me: “We have no doubt that our mothers knew it.”
49 So I and my two thousand went back to fight against the Lamanites who had chased us. Antipus’s armies had caught up with them, and a terrible fight had begun.
50 Antipus’s army was very tired because of the long chase, and they were just about to be defeated by the Lamanites. If I had not come back with my two thousand men, the Lamanites would have won.
51 Antipus and many other leaders had been killed because they were so tired from their quick chase. Antipus’s men were becoming confused because they had no leaders, so the Lamanites had begun to beat them back.
52 The Lamanites got braver and began to chase them even harder. Then I, Helaman, came on them from behind with my two thousand men, and began to kill many of them, and the whole Lamanite army stopped and turned around.
53 When Antipus’s people saw the Lamanites turn around, they gathered their men and came against the Lamanites from behind.
54 So we, the Nephites — both Antipus’s army and my army — surrounded the Lamanites, and killed [many of] them. They had to give up their weapons and give themselves up as our prisoners.
55 After they had given up, I counted the young men who had fought with me, because I was afraid that many of them had been killed.
56 But to my great joy, not one soul of them had been killed. They had fought as if with God’s power. Yes, never has anyone fought with such amazing power as they did. They fought the Lamanites with such great power that the Lamanites became very afraid of them, which is why they gave up and became our prisoners.
57 Since we had no place to put our prisoners to keep them away from the rest of the Lamanite armies, we sent them with part of Antipus’s army to the land of Zarahemla. I took the rest of Antipus’s army and my young Ammonites with me back to the city of Judea.
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