# 3 Nephi 8

*Paraphrase*

### The Thirty-Third Year

We know our record is true because the man keeping it was righteous. He performed many miracles in Jesus’s name—and no one could do such miracles unless they were completely cleansed from sin.

If his reckoning of time was accurate, the thirty-third year had passed. People began watching anxiously for the sign Samuel the Lamanite had prophesied—three days of darkness covering the land. Despite all the signs they’d seen, doubt and arguments spread through the people.

### The Storm Breaks

Then in the thirty-fourth year, on the fourth day of the first month, a storm hit—unlike anything the land had ever seen. A violent tempest came with it. Thunder so terrible it shook the whole earth as if it might split apart. Lightning flashed—sharper and fiercer than had ever struck the land.

### Cities Destroyed

The city of Zarahemla caught fire. The city of Moroni sank into the depths of the sea, drowning everyone in it. Earth buried the city of Moronihah—where it once stood, a great mountain now rose. Terrible destruction swept across the land to the south.

But the destruction in the north was even worse. The whole face of the land was transformed by the tempest, whirlwinds, thunder, lightning, and violent earthquakes. Highways were torn apart, level roads destroyed, smooth places turned rough. Many great cities sank into the earth. Others burned. Still others were shaken until their buildings collapsed, killing the people inside and leaving the places desolate. Some cities survived, but the damage was devastating and many people died. Some were swept away in the whirlwinds. No one knows where they went—only that they vanished. The face of the entire earth was scarred by the storms, thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. Rocks split in two. They shattered across the whole earth—broken fragments, cracks, and fissures covering the land.

### Three Days of Darkness

When the thunder, lightning, storms, and earthquakes finally stopped—they had lasted about three hours, though some said longer—all these terrible things happened in roughly three hours. Then darkness fell across the land. Thick darkness blanketed everything. The survivors could feel the vapor of darkness pressing against them. No light could pierce it—not candles, not torches. They couldn’t even kindle fire with their fine, dry wood. There was no light at all. Nothing could be seen—no fire, no glimmer, no sun, no moon, no stars. The mists of darkness covered the land completely.

### Cries of the People

The darkness lasted three days. No light anywhere. The people mourned and wept and howled without stopping. Their groaning was terrible because of the darkness and the destruction that had come. In one place they cried out: “If only we had repented before this terrible day! Our brothers would have been spared—they wouldn’t have burned in Zarahemla.” 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.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/3-nephi/8)*
