Alma 18:9
1830 Edition
Influences
Changes
Simple English
They said to him, 'He is feeding your horses.' Before the time of watering their flocks, the king had told his servants to get his horses and chariots ready. He wanted them to take him to the land of Nephi. Lamoni’s father was king over all the land. He had planned a great feast in the land of Nephi.
Paraphrase
They told him: "He's feeding your horses." (The king had ordered his servants to prepare his horses and chariot before they'd gone to water the flocks. He was supposed to travel to the land of Nephi for a big feast hosted by his father, who ruled over all the land.)
Notes
Currently, there is no archaeological evidence indicating that horses and wheeled transport were present in the ancient Americas during the time period described in the Book of Mormon. Horses are generally understood to have been introduced to the Americas by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Similarly, there is no widely accepted archaeological evidence supporting the use of wheeled vehicles, such as chariots, in the pre-Columbian New World. This absence of evidence has led some scholars to view references to such elements as anachronisms, warranting further question of the text’s historical integrity.