24:1 And it came to pass that the Amalekites and the
Amulonites and the Lamanites who were in the land of
Amulon, and also in the land of Helam, and who were in
the land of Jerusalem, and in fine, in all the land round
about, who had not been converted and had not taken upon
them the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, were stirred up by the
Amalekites and by the Amulonites to anger against their
brethren. |
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24:2 And their hatred became exceedingly sore
against them, even insomuch that they began to rebel
against their king, insomuch that they would not that he
should be their king; therefore, they took up arms
against the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. |
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24:3 Now the king conferred the kingdom upon his
son, and he called his name Anti-Nephi-Lehi. |
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24:4 And the king died in that selfsame year that
the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against
the people of God. |
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24:5 Now when Ammon and his brethren and all those
who had come up with him saw the preparations of the
Lamanites to destroy their brethren, they came forth to
the land of Midian, and there Ammon met all his brethren;
and from thence they came to the land of Ishmael that
they might hold a council with Lamoni and also with his
brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi, what they should do to defend
themselves against the Lamanites. |
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24:6 Now there was not one soul among all the people
who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up
arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even
make any preparations for war; yea, and also their king
commanded them that they should not. |
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24:7 Now, these are the words which he said unto the
people concerning the matter: I thank my God, my beloved
people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our
brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to
convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers. |
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24:8 And behold, I thank my great God that he has
given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts,
that we have opened a correspondence with these brethren,
the Nephites. |
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24:9 And behold, I also thank my God, that by
opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our
sins, and of the many murders which we have committed. |
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24:10 And I also thank my God, yea, my great God,
that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of
these things, and also that he hath forgiven us of those
our many sins and murders which we have committed, and
taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits
of his Son. |
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24:11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been
all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all
mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders
which we have committed, and to get God to take them away
from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent
sufficiently before God that he would take away our
stain-- |
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24:12 Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath
taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our
swords no more with the blood of our brethren. |
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24:13 Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our
brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords
again they can no more be washed bright through the blood
of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the
atonement of our sins. |
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24:14 And the great God has had mercy on us, and made
these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea,
and he has made these things known unto us beforehand,
because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our
children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his
angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known
unto us as well as unto future generations. |
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24:15 Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold,
since it has been as much as we could do to get our
stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that
they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the
last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand
before him to be judged, that we have not stained our
swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his
word unto us and has made us clean thereby. |
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24:16 And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to
destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth,
that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have
never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren
destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be
saved. |
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24:17 And now it came to pass that when the king had
made an end of these sayings, and all the people were
assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the
shedding of man's blood, and they did bury them up deep
in the earth. |
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24:18 And this they did, it being in their view a
testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would
use weapons again for the shedding of man's blood; and
this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that
rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would
give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a
brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend
their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with
their hands. |
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24:19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were
brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm,
and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin;
and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace,
or they buried the weapons of war, for peace. |
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24:20 And it came to pass that their brethren, the
Lamanites, made preparations for war, and came up to the
land of Nephi for the purpose of destroying the king, and
to place another in his stead, and also of destroying the
people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi out of the land. |
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24:21 Now when the people saw that they were coming
against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated
themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on
the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude
when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to
slay them with the sword. |
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24:22 And thus without meeting any resistance, they
did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that
they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their
God. |
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24:23 Now when the Lamanites saw that their brethren
would not flee from the sword, neither would
they turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but
that they would lie down and perish, and praised God even
in the very act of perishing under the sword-- |
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24:24 Now when the Lamanites saw this they did
forbear from slaying them; and there were many whose
hearts had swollen in them for those of their brethren
who had fallen under the sword, for they
repented of the things which they had done. |
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24:25 And it came to pass that they threw down their
weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for
they were stung for the murders which they had committed;
and they came down even as their brethren, relying upon
the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them.
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24:26 And it came to pass that the people of God were
joined that day by more than the number who had been
slain; and those who had been slain were righteous
people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what
they were saved. |
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24:27 And there was not a wicked man slain among
them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the
knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh
in many ways to the salvation of his people. |
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24:28 Now the greatest number of those of the
Lamanites who slew so many of their brethren were
Amalekites and Amulonites, the greatest number of whom
were after the order of the Nehors. |
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24:29 Now, among those who joined the people of the
Lord, there were none who were Amalekites or Amulonites,
or who were of the order of Nehor, but they were actual
descendants of Laman and Lemuel. |
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24:30 And thus we can plainly discern, that after a
people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God,
and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to
righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and
transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their
state becomes worse than though they had never known
these things. |
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