# 3 Nephi 2

*Paraphrase*

### Forgetting the Signs

As the ninety-fifth year came and went, people began to forget the signs and wonders they’d witnessed. They grew less amazed when something miraculous happened, and their hearts turned hard. Their minds closed. They stopped believing what they’d once seen and heard. They convinced themselves it was all just tricks—human manipulation and devil’s magic meant to deceive them. Satan grabbed hold of their hearts again, blinding them completely, leading them to think Christ’s teachings were foolish nonsense. The people grew strong in wickedness and corruption. They didn’t believe there would be any more signs or wonders. Satan roamed freely, leading people astray, tempting them to commit terrible evils across the land.

### Years Pass

The ninety-sixth year passed. Then the ninety-seventh. Then the ninety-eighth. Then the ninety-ninth. A full century had passed since the days of King Mosiah, who had ruled over the Nephites. Six hundred and nine years had passed since Lehi left Jerusalem. Nine years had passed since the sign the prophets had spoken of—the sign that marked Christ’s coming into the world. The Nephites had started counting their calendar from that moment when the sign appeared, from the time Christ came. So nine years had gone by. Nephi—the father of Nephi who kept the records—never returned to Zarahemla. He couldn’t be found anywhere in the land.

Despite all the preaching and prophecy sent among them, the people remained wicked. The tenth year passed in corruption. The eleventh year did the same.

### War with the Robbers

In the thirteenth year, wars and fighting broke out across the land. The Gadianton robbers had grown so numerous and so violent—killing thousands, destroying cities, spreading death and carnage everywhere—that everyone, both Nephites and Lamanites, had to take up arms against them. All the Lamanites who had converted to the Lord joined forces with their Nephite brothers. For the safety of their lives, their women, and their children, they were forced to fight the Gadianton robbers. They fought to protect their rights, their church, their worship, their freedom, and their way of life.

Before the thirteenth year ended, the Nephites faced complete destruction. The war had become unbearably brutal.

### The Curse Lifted

The Lamanites who’d united with the Nephites were counted as Nephites. The curse was lifted from them, and their skin became white like the Nephites’. Their young men and daughters became strikingly beautiful. They were counted among the Nephites and called by that name. The thirteenth year ended.

### The War Continues

At the start of the fourteenth year, the war between the robbers and the Nephite people continued, growing more savage. Still, the Nephites gained some ground, driving the robbers back from their lands into the mountains and into their hidden places.

The fourteenth year ended. In the fifteenth year, the robbers attacked again. But because of the Nephites’ wickedness—their constant fighting and divisions among themselves—the Gadianton robbers won many victories over them.

The fifteenth year ended. The people lived in constant suffering. The sword of destruction hung over their heads, ready to strike them down at any moment—all because of their sin.

---

*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/3-nephi/2)*
