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Helaman — Chapter 4

¹ During the fifty-fourth year there were many rebellions in the church, as well as a fight among the people during which many people were killed.

² The rebels were killed or chased out of the land, and they went to the Lamanite king.

³ They tried to get the Lamanites to make war on the Nephites, but the Lamanites were too afraid, and did not listen to them.

⁴ But during the fifty-sixth year of the judges, more Nephite rebels went to the Lamanites. They and the other rebels were able to get the Lamanites angry at the Nephites, so they spent all that year getting ready for war.

⁵ During the fifty-seventh year they came to war against the Nephites and began the work of death. In the fifty-eighth year they took over the land of Zarahemla and all the lands up to Bountiful.

⁶ The Nephites and Moronihah’s armies were chased all the way to the land of Bountiful.

⁷ They built forts and strong places there against the Lamanites from the west sea to the east sea (which took a day for a Nephite to travel). They made a line on which they built forts and strong places, and where they put their armies to protect the north land.

⁸ So those rebels, with the help of the Lamanites, took over all the Nephites’ lands in the south. All this took place during the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth years of the judges.

⁹ During the sixtieth year of the judges, Moronihah and his armies were able to get back many parts of the land and many cities the Lamanites had taken over.

¹⁰ During the sixty-first year of the judges, they were able to get back half of all they had owned.

¹¹ The Nephites would not have lost these lands, nor would so many of them been killed, had it not been for the wickedness and sins among them–among those who had said they were part of God’s church.

¹² [These things happened] because of the pride in their hearts and their great riches, and because they treated the poor badly, and did not give food to the hungry and clothes to the naked, and hit their humble brothers and sisters on the cheek, and made fun of holy things, and said there was no revelation nor spirit of prophecy. They murdered, and robbed, and lied, and committed adultery, and argued, and rebelled, and fought, and went away to the Lamanites in the land of Nephi.

¹³ The Nephites had to fight with just their own strength because of their great wickedness, and their boasting about their strength. So they did not prosper, but had troubles and were defeated and chased by the Lamanites until they lost almost all their lands.

¹⁴ But Moronihah preached many things to the people because of their sins, as did Nephi and Lehi, Helaman’s sons. They prophesied many things to them about their wickedness, and about what would happen if they did not repent of their sins.

¹⁵ They repented, and as they repented, they began to prosper.

¹⁶ When Moronihah saw they were repenting, he led them from place to place and from city to city until they had gotten back one-half of all they had owned, and one-half of all their lands.

¹⁷ This was how the sixty-fifth year ended.

¹⁸ But during the sixty-second year of the judges, Moronihah could not get back any more of the land the Lamanites had taken over.

¹⁹ They stopped trying to get back the rest of the land, because there were too many Lamanites for the Nephites to have power over them. So Moronihah had his armies protect those lands he had gotten back.

²⁰ There were so many Lamanites that the Nephites were very afraid the Lamanites would defeat and kill and destroy them.

²¹ Yes, they began to remember Alma’s prophecies and Mosiah’s words. They saw they had been stubborn and had not obeyed God’s commandments.

²² They had changed and not obeyed the laws the Lord had commanded Mosiah to give to the people. They saw that their laws had been changed and had become evil, and that they had become a wicked people just like the Lamanites.

²³ The church had gotten weaker because of their sins, and they had begun not to believe in the spirit of prophesy and revelation. They plainly saw that God’s judgments were upon them.

²⁴ They saw they had become weak like their brothers and sisters, the Lamanites, and that God’s Spirit did not protect them anymore. Yes, God’s Spirit left them, because God’s Spirit will not live in unholy temples.

²⁵ So the Lord did not use his great power to protect them anymore, because they had become full of wickedness and unbelief. They saw that there were many more Lamanites than Nephites, so they saw that if they did not repent and turn back to God, they would be destroyed.

²⁶ They saw that the Lamanites were just as strong as they were. They had fallen into this great sin and had become this weak in just a few years because of their sins.