Mosiah — Chapter 23
Chapters 23–24: The story of Alma and his people.
1 The Lord warned Alma that King Noah’s armies were coming, so he told his people. They gathered their flocks, and took some of their grain, and went into the wilderness before King Noah’s armies got there.
2 The Lord made them so strong that King Noah’s people could not catch up with them and destroy them.
3 They traveled in the wilderness for eight days.
4 Then they came to a very beautiful land with pure water in it.
5 They set up their tents and began to farm and build buildings. They worked very hard.
6 The people wanted Alma to be their king, because they loved him.
7 But he said to them: “We do not need to have a king. This is what the Lord says: ‘You will not think of one person as being more important than another. People should not think they are better than other people.’ This is why I tell you that we do not need a king.
8 “If we could always have good men as kings, then it would be a good thing to have a king.
9 “But remember the sins of King Noah and his priests. Even I was trapped in sin, and I did many terrible things in God’s eyes, which made repentance painful for me.
10 “But after a lot of pain, the Lord heard my prayers and answered them, and made me a tool in his hands to bring so many of you to know his truth.
11 “But I do not give myself any glory for this, because I am not worthy of it.
12 “I tell you that King Noah and his priests made you slaves, and made you sin. You were tied up by the chains of sin.
13 “And now, since you have been saved from these chains by the power of God, and from King Noah and his people, and from sin, I want you to stay free and not make any man king over you.
14 “And also, do not trust anyone to be your teacher who does not walk in God’s ways nor keeps God’s commandments.”
15 Alma taught his people to love their neighbors as themselves, and not to fight nor argue with each other.
16 Alma was their high priest, since he had begun their church.
17 No one was given power to teach unless Alma gave it to them as God had given it to him. He called all their priests and teachers. Only righteous men were chosen.
18 They watched over their people and taught them about righteousness.
19 They began to prosper very much in the land they called Helam.
20 They had many children and prospered very much in the land of Helam. Then they built a city that they called the city of Helam.
21 But the Lord sometimes tests his people. Yes, he tests their patience and their faith.
22 But whoever trusts in him will be saved at the last day, and this is how it was with this people.
23 I will show you that they were made slaves, and that the only one who could save them was the Lord their God, even the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
24 He saved them, and showed his great power to them, and they were very happy.
25 While they were in the land and city of Helam, farming the land, an army of Lamanites came to the borders of the land.
26 Alma’s brothers ran from their fields and gathered themselves together in the city of Helam. They were very afraid of the Lamanites.
27 But Alma went to them and told them not to be afraid, but to remember that the Lord their God would save them.
28 So they stopped being so afraid, and began to pray to the Lord to soften the Lamanites’ hearts so they would not kill them nor their wives and children.
29 The Lord softened the Lamanites’ hearts, and Alma and his brothers and sisters gave themselves up to the Lamanites. So the Lamanites took over the land of Helam.
30 These Lamanite armies had followed King Limhi’s people. They had been lost in the wilderness for many days.
31 They had found Noah’s priests in a place called Amulon, where [the priests] had begun to live and farm.
32 (The leader of the priests was named Amulon.)
33 Amulon begged the Lamanites not to destroy them. He sent their wives, who were the Lamanites’ daughters, to beg their brothers not to destroy their husbands.
34 The Lamanites had mercy on Amulon and his brothers, and did not kill them because of their wives.
35 Amulon and his brothers joined the Lamanites, and were looking for the land of Nephi when they found the land of Helam, where Alma and his people lived.
36 The Lamanites promised Alma and his people that they would not kill them and would let them be free if they would show them how to get to the land of Nephi.
37 But after Alma showed them the way to the land of Nephi, the Lamanites broke their promise. They put guards all around the land of Helam over Alma [and his people].
38 Some of the Lamanites went to the land of Nephi. Some of them went back to the land of Helam, bringing with them the wives and children of the guards who stayed in the land.
39 The Lamanite king made Amulon the king and ruler over his people in the land of Helam, but Amulon did not have power to do anything the Lamanite king did not want him to do.
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