Alma 17

And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon, southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah, a journeying towards the land of Zarahemla.

Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly, to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding, and they had searched the Sscriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

But this is not all:; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting,; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority, even as with the power and authority of God.

And they had been teaching the word of God for the space of fourteen years, among the Lamanites, having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, by the power of their words, many were brought before the altar of God, to call on his name, and confess their sins before him.

Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind;, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit.

Now these were their journeyings,: hHaving taken leave of their father, Mosiah, in the first year of the reign of the Jjudges; having refused the kingdom which their father was desirous to confer upon them;, and also this was the minds of the people;

nNevertheless they departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and took their swords, and their spears, and their bows, and their arrows, and their slings; and this they doneid that they might provide food for themselves while in the wilderness:.

aAnd thus they departed into the wilderness, with their numbers which they had selected, to go up to the land of Nephi, to preach the word of God unto the Lamanites.

And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much, and prayed much, that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his sSpirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God, to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth;, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct.

And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his sSpirit, and said unto them,: Be comforted;. aAnd they were comforted.

And the Lord said unto them also,: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long -suffering and afflictions, that ye may sheow forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands, unto the salvation of many souls.

And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those whicho were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites, to declare unto them the word of God.

And it came to pass when they had arrivend in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, that they separated themselves, and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord, that they should meet again at the close of their harvest:; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken.

And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild, and a hardened, and a ferocious people; a people whicho delighted in the murdering the Nephites, and robbing, and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold, and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands:.

tThus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had feallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers; notwithstanding, the promises of the Lord were extended unto them, on the conditions of repentance;.

tTherefore, this was the cause for which the sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption;.

tTherefore they separated themselves one from another, and went forth among them, every man alone, according to the word and power of God, which was given unto him.

Now Ammon being the chief among them, or rather he did administer unto them;, and he departed from them, after havging blessed them according to their several stations, having imparted the word of God unto them, or administered unto them before his departure; and thus they took their several journeys throughout the land.

And Ammon went to the land of Ishmael, the land being called after the sons of Ishmael, whicho also became Lamanites.

And as Ammon entered the land of Ishmael, the Lamanites took him and bound him, as was their custom, to bind all the Nephites whicho fell into their hands, and carry them before the king; and thus it was left to the pleasure of the king to slay them, or to retain them in captivity, or to cast them into prison, or to cast them out of his land, according to his will and pleasure;.

aAnd thus Ammon was carried before the king whicho was over the land of Ishmael; and his name was Lamoni; and he was a descendant of Ishmael.

And the king inquired of Ammon if it were his desires to dwell in the land among the Lamanites, or among his people?.

And Ammon said unto him,: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.

And it came to pass that king Lamoni was much pleased with Ammon, and caused that his bands should be loosed; and he would that Ammon should take one of his daughters to wife.

But Ammon saithd unto him,: Nay, but I will be thy servant;. tTherefore Ammon became a servant to king Lamoni. And it came to pass that he was set, among other servants, to watch the flocks of Lamoni, according to the custom of the Lamanites.

And it came to pass that after he had been in the service of the king three days, that as he was, with the Lamanitish servants, a going forth with their flocks, to the place of water, which was called the water of Sebus;, (and all the Lamanites drive their flocks hither, that they mightay have water;)—

tTherefore, as Ammon and the servants of the king were driving forth their flocks to this place of water, behold, a certain number of the Lamanites, who had been with their flocks to water, stood and scattered the flocks of Ammon, and the servants of the king, and they scattered them insomuch that they fled many ways.

Now the servants of the king began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our brethren, because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying,: Behold, our flocks are scattered already.

Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this, his heart was swollen within him, with joy; for, said he, I will sheow forth my power unto these my fellow -servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow -servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words.

NAnd now, these were the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whichom he termed to be his brethren.

And it came to pass that he flattered them by his words, saying: My brethren, be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together, and bring them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto the king, and he will not slay us.

And it came to pass that they went in search of the flocks, and they did follow Ammon, and they rushed forth with much swiftness, and did head the flocks of the king, and did gather them together again, to the place of water.

And those men again stood to scatter their flocks; but Ammon saithd unto his brethren,: Encircle the flocks round about, that they flee not; and I go and contend with these men whicho do scatter our flocks.

Therefore, they did as Ammon commanded them, and he went forth and stood to contend with those whicho stood by the waters of Sebus; and they were not in number anot verya few;.

tTherefore they did not fear Ammon, for they supposed that one of their men could slay him, according to their pleasure, for they knew not that the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would deliver his sons out of their hands; neither did they know any thing concerning the Lord; therefore they delighted in the destruction of their brethren; and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the king.

But Ammon stood forth and began to cast stones at them with his sling; yea, with mighty power he did sling stones amongst them; and thus he slew a certain number of them, insomuch that they began to be astonished at his power; nevertheless they were angry because of the slain of their brethren, and they were determined that he should fall; therefore, seeing that they could not hit him with their stones, they came forth with clubs to slay him.

But behold, every man that lifted his club to smite Ammon, he smote off their arms with his sword; for he did withstand their blows by smiting their arms with the edge of his sword, insomuch that they began to be astonished, and began to flee before him; yea, and they were not few in number; and he caused them to flee by the strength of his arm.

Now six of them had fallen by the sling, but he slew none save it were their leader with his sword; and he smote off as many of their arms as wasere lifted against him, and they were not a few.

And when he had driven them afar off, he returned, and they watered their flocks and returned them to the pasture of the king, and then went in unto the king, bearing the arms which had been smoitten off by the sword of Ammon, of those who sought to slay him; and they were carried in unto the king, for a testimony of the things which they had done.