46:1 And it came to pass that as many as would not
hearken to the words of Helaman and his brethren were
gathered together against their brethren. |
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46:2 And now behold, they were exceedingly wroth,
insomuch that they were determined to slay them. |
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46:3 Now the leader of those who were wroth against
their brethren was a large and a strong man; and his name
was Amalickiah. |
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46:4 And Amalickiah was desirous to be a king; and
those people who were wroth were also desirous that he
should be their king; and they were the greater part of
them the lower judges of the land, and they were seeking
for power. |
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46:5 And they had been led by the flatteries of
Amalickiah, that if they would support him and establish
him to be their king that he would make them rulers over
the people. |
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46:6 Thus they were led away by Amalickiah to
dissensions, notwithstanding the preaching of Helaman and
his brethren, yea, notwithstanding their exceedingly
great care over the church, for they were
high priests over the church. |
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46:7 And there were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of
Amalickiah, therefore they dissented even from the
church; and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi
exceedingly precarious and dangerous, notwithstanding
their great victory which they had had over the
Lamanites, and their great rejoicings which they had had
because of their deliverance by the hand of the Lord. |
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46:8 Thus we see how quick the children of men do
forget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do iniquity,
and to be led away by the evil one. |
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46:9 Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one
very wicked man can cause to take place among the
children of men. |
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46:10 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a
man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words,
that he led away the hearts of many people to do
wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of
liberty which God had granted unto them, or which
blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the
righteous' sake. |
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46:11 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who
was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites,
had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with
Amalickiah. |
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46:12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and
he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it--In memory of
our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our
wives, and our children--and he fastened it upon the end
of a pole. |
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46:13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his
breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor
about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the
end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of
liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed
mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to
rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of
Christians remain to possess the land-- |
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46:14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to
the church. |
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46:15 And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true
believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or
Christians as they were called, because of their belief
in Christ who should come. |
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46:16 And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that
the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land
might be favored. |
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46:17 And it came to pass that when he had poured out
his soul to God, he named all the land which was south of
the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both
on the north and on the south--A chosen land, and the
land of liberty. |
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46:18 And he said: Surely God shall not suffer that
we, who are despised because we take upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down and destroyed, until we
bring it upon us by our own transgressions. |
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46:19 And when Moroni had said these words, he went
forth among the people, waving the rent part of his
garment in the air, that all might see the writing which
he had written upon the rent part, and crying with a loud
voice, saying: |
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46:20 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon
the land, let them come forth in the strength of the
Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain
their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may
bless them. |
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46:21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had
proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running
together with their armor girded about their loins,
rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that
they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other
words, if they should transgress the commandments of God,
or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon
them the name of Christ, the Lord
should rend them even as they had rent their garments. |
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46:22 Now this was the covenant which they made, and
they cast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying:
We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed,
even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall
fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet
of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy
feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into
transgression. |
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46:23 Moroni said unto them: Behold, we are a remnant
of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed
of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many
pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the
commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our
brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be
slain. |
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46:24 Yea, let us preserve our liberty as a remnant
of Joseph; yea, let us remember the words of Jacob,
before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the
remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not
decayed. And he said--Even as this remnant of garment of
my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the
seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be
taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of
Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment. |
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46:25 Now behold, this giveth my soul sorrow;
nevertheless, my soul hath joy in my son, because of that
part of his seed which shall be taken unto God. |
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46:26 Now behold, this was the language of Jacob. |
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46:27 And now who knoweth but what the remnant of the
seed of Joseph, which shall perish as his garment, are
those who have dissented from us? Yea, and even it shall
be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith of Christ. |
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46:28 And now it came to pass that when Moroni had
said these words he went forth, and also sent forth in
all the parts of the land where there were dissensions,
and gathered together all the people who were desirous to
maintain their liberty, to stand against Amalickiah and
those who had dissented, who were called Amalickiahites. |
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46:29 And it came to pass that when Amalickiah saw
that the people of Moroni were more numerous than the
Amalickiahites--and he also saw that his people were
doubtful concerning the justice of the cause in which
they had undertaken--therefore, fearing that he should
not gain the point, he took those of his people who would
and departed into the land of Nephi. |
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46:30 Now Moroni thought it was not expedient that
the Lamanites should have any more strength; therefore he
thought to cut off the people of Amalickiah, or to take
them and bring them back, and put Amalickiah to death;
yea, for he knew that he would stir up the Lamanites to
anger against them, and cause them to come to battle
against them; and this he knew that Amalickiah would do
that he might obtain his purposes. |
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46:31 Therefore Moroni thought it was expedient that
he should take his armies, who had gathered themselves
together, and armed themselves, and entered into a
covenant to keep the peace--and it came to pass that he
took his army and marched out with his tents into the
wilderness, to cut off the course of Amalickiah in the
wilderness. |
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46:32 And it came to pass that he did according to
his desires, and marched forth into the wilderness, and
headed the armies of Amalickiah. |
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46:33 And it came to pass that Amalickiah fled with a
small number of his men, and the remainder were delivered
up into the hands of Moroni and were taken back into the
land of Zarahemla. |
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46:34 Now, Moroni being a man who was appointed by
the chief judges and the voice of the people, therefore
he had power according to his will with the armies of the
Nephites, to establish and to exercise authority over
them. |
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46:35 And it came to pass that whomsoever of the
Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to
support the cause of freedom, that they might maintain a
free government, he caused to be put to death; and there
were but few who denied the covenant of freedom. |
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46:36 And it came to pass also, that he caused the
title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was
in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and
thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the
Nephites. |
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46:37 And they began to have peace again in the land;
and thus they did maintain peace in the land until nearly
the end of the nineteenth year of the reign of the
judges. |
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46:38 And Helaman and the high priests did also
maintain order in the church; yea, even for
the space of four years did they have much peace and
rejoicing in the church. |
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46:39 And it came to pass that there were many who
died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by
the Lord Jesus
Christ; thus they went out of
the world rejoicing. |
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46:40 And there were some who died with fevers, which
at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the
land--but not so much so with fevers, because of the
excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which
God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to
which men were subject by the nature of the climate-- |
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46:41 But there were many who died with old age; and
those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose. |
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