easyreadbkmormon.com

Helaman — Chapter 6

¹ All these things happened after the sixty-second year of the judges ended. Most of the Lamanites had become righteous, even more righteous than the Nephites, because they were so strong in the faith.

² Many Nephites were hardened and very wicked, and would not repent, and rejected God’s word and all the teaching and prophesying which came among them.

³ But the people of the church had great joy because of the Lamanites–yes, because God’s church had been built up among them. They met with each other and were happy with each other, and had great joy.

⁴ Many Lamanites went down to the land of Zarahemla and told the Nephites what had happened to them, and tried to get them to have faith and repent.

⁵ Yes, many taught with great power, and helped many Nephites become humble followers of God and Christ.

⁶ Many Lamanites went into the north land to preach to the people, as did Nephi and Lehi. This was how the sixty-third year ended.

⁷ There was peace in all the land, and the Nephites could go wherever they wanted among the Lamanites.

⁸ The Lamanites could go wherever they wanted among the Nephites. They traded with each other, buying and selling, and making money as they wanted.

⁹ Both the Lamanites and the Nephites became very rich. They had lots of gold and silver and other metals, both in the south and in the north land.

¹⁰ The south land was called Lehi. The north land was called Mulek, after Zedekiah’s son, because the Lord had brought Mulek into the north, and Lehi into the south.

¹¹ There was lots of gold and silver and other metals in both these lands. There were people who could make all kinds of things out of these metals, and who could make the metal more pure, so they became rich.

¹² They grew lots of grain in both the north and south, and they prospered in the north and south. They had many children and became very strong in the land. They raised many fat flocks and herds.

¹³ The women worked and spun and made all kinds of cloth and fancy clothes to wear. This was how the sixty-fourth year went by in peace.

¹⁴ In the sixty-fifth year, they had lots of joy and peace, and lots of teaching and prophecies about the things which were going to happen. This was how the sixty-fifth year went by.

¹⁵ But during the sixty-sixth year of the judges, Cezoram was murdered as he sat on the judgment-seat by an unknown person. Then during the same year, his son (whom the people had chosen to be the chief judge) was also murdered. This was how the sixty-sixth year ended.

¹⁶ And at the beginning of the sixty-seventh year, the people began to grow very wicked again.

¹⁷ The Lord had blessed them with the world’s riches for so long that they did not have to worry about being angry, nor about having wars, nor about killing each other, so they began to love their riches. Yes, they began to try to get more riches than other people so they could have more power over others. So they began to secretly murder and rob to get more riches.

¹⁸ Those murderers and robbers were part of a group Kishkumen and Gadianton had begun. There were many Gadianton robbers, even among the Nephites. But there were more of them among the most wicked Lamanites. They were called Gadianton’s robbers and murderers.

¹⁹ They were the ones who murdered Cezoram, the chief judge, and his son, while they were on the judgment seat, and no one found them.

²⁰ When the Lamanites found out there were Gadianton robbers among them, they were very sad. They did everything they could to destroy them from off the earth.

²¹ But Satan had gotten hold of most of the Nephites’ hearts, so they joined with those Gadianton robbers, and made promises with them to protect each other and help each other with their troubles, so they would not be punished for their murders and robbing.

²² They had secret signs and secret words so they could know who was part of their group. No matter what evil thing any of them did, they would not do anything to hurt each other, nor to hurt any of those who were part of the group and had made these promises.

²³ They could murder and rob and commit sexual sins and do all kinds of things that were against the laws of their country and their God.

²⁴ Whoever told the world about their wickedness and sins were judged, not by the laws of their country, but by the wicked laws Gadianton and Kishkumen had made.

²⁵ These are the secret promises Alma commanded his son to keep away from the people so they would not be destroyed.

²⁶ These secret promises did not come to Gadianton from Helaman’s records, but the devil put them into Gadianton’s heart, just as he put it into our first parents’ hearts to eat the forbidden fruit.

²⁷ Yes, that same devil promised Cain that if he murdered Abel, the world would not know about it. He planned these things with Cain and his followers from that time on.

²⁸ That same devil put it into people’s hearts to build a tower high enough to get to heaven. That same devil led the people who came from that tower to this land, and spread darkness and sin all over the land, until all the people were destroyed and taken down to hell forever.

²⁹ Yes, it was that same devil who put it into Gadianton’s heart to do the work of darkness and of secret murder. He has brought this plan into people’s hearts from the beginning of the world down to this time.

³⁰ He is the one who began all sin. He takes his dark works and secret murders and hands down the plans and promises of great wickedness from generation to generation, when he can get hold of people’s hearts.

³¹ Now he had such great hold on the Nephites’ hearts that they became very wicked. Yes, most of them stopped being righteous, and did not keep God’s commandments, and did what they wanted, and turned gold and silver into their gods.

³² It took only a few years for all these sins to come on them — most of it during the sixty-seventh year of the Nephite judges.

³³ They got more and more wicked during the sixty-eighth year, too, making the righteous people very sad.

³⁴ So we see that the Nephites stopped believing, and became more wicked and evil, while the Lamanites learned more and more about God. Yes, the Lamanites kept his laws and commandments, and walked in truth and righteousness before him.

³⁵ We see that the Spirit of the Lord began to leave the Nephites because of their wickedness and hard hearts.

³⁶ We see that the Lord began to pour out his spirit on the Lamanites because they were willing to believe in his words.

³⁷ The Lamanites hunted the Gadianton robbers. They taught God’s word to the most wicked part of them, so there were no Gadianton robbers among the Lamanites.

³⁸ But the Nephites built them up, beginning at the most wicked part of them, until they had gotten into all the Nephites’ lands. Even most of the righteous began to believe in their works and to share their riches, and to join with them in their secret murders and combinations.

³⁹ This was how they took over the government. They hit and walked on and tore and turned their backs on the poor and meek, and on God’s humble followers.

⁴⁰ So we see that they were very wicked, and almost ready to be completely destroyed forever.

⁴¹ And the sixty-eighth year of the judges ended.