3 Nephi 4:1

And it came to pass that in the latter end of the eighteenth year, those armies of robbers had prepared for battle, and began to come down, and to sally forth from the hills, and out of the mountains, and the wilderness, and their strong holds, and their secret places, and began to take possession of the lands, both which was in the land south, and which was in the land north, and began to take possession of all the lands which had been deserted by the Nephites, and the cities which had been left desolate.

At the end of the eighteenth year, the robber armies got ready for battle. They came down from the hills, mountains, and wild places. They came out of their secret hiding places. They took over the lands in the south and the north. They took over all the lands and cities the Nephites had left empty.

At the end of the eighteenth year, the robber armies came down from the hills and mountains—from their wilderness hideouts and strongholds. They began taking over lands the Nephites had abandoned, moving into the empty cities left behind in both the north and the south.