The Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 8:25

1830 Edition

And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers, and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah; and thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible.

Changes

And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers, and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah;. aAnd thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible.

Simple English

In another place people were heard crying: “We wish we had changed our ways before this terrible day! We wish we hadn’t killed and thrown rocks at the prophets and chased them away! Then our mothers, our daughters, and our children would still be alive. They wouldn’t be buried under that great city of Moronihah.” The cries of the people were loud and terrible.

Paraphrase

In another place they wailed: “If only we had repented before this terrible day! If we hadn’t killed and stoned the prophets and driven them out, our mothers and daughters and children would have been spared—they wouldn’t be buried under the ruins of Moronihah.” The cries of the people were unbearable.