# Alma 14

*Paraphrase*

### The City Turns Against Them

After Alma finished speaking, many people believed what he said and started turning their lives around. They began searching the Scriptures.

But most of the crowd wanted Alma and Amulek dead. They were furious with Alma for calling out Zeezrom so bluntly. And they claimed Amulek had lied to them and insulted their laws, lawyers, and judges. The fact that Alma and Amulek had spoken so plainly about their wickedness made them even angrier. They wanted to kill them in secret.

But instead, they grabbed them, tied them up with heavy ropes, and dragged them before the chief judge.

The people stepped forward to testify against them. They accused Alma and Amulek of attacking the law, the lawyers, the judges, and everyone in the land. They twisted their words, saying they’d claimed God would send his Son but wouldn’t save anyone. All these lies were presented before the chief judge.

### Zeezrom’s Change of Heart

Meanwhile, Zeezrom was stunned by what Alma had said. He realized how his lies had blinded people’s minds. The weight of his guilt began crushing him. He felt the pains of hell closing in.

He started shouting to the crowd: “I’m guilty! These men are innocent before God!” He began pleading for them, but the people turned on him. “Are you possessed by the devil too?” they yelled. Then they spit on him and drove him out of the city, along with everyone who believed Alma and Amulek’s words. They threw stones at them.

### The Believers Are Burned

Then they gathered their wives and children—anyone who believed or had been taught to believe in God’s word—and threw them into a fire. They also took their scriptures, the holy records, and burned them too.

They dragged Alma and Amulek to the place of execution and forced them to watch as the believers burned.

When Amulek saw the women and children burning alive, he was overwhelmed with anguish. He said to Alma, “How can we just stand here and watch this? Let’s use the power of God and save them from the flames!” But Alma told him, “The Spirit is holding me back. I can’t lift a hand. The Lord is receiving them into his glory. He’s allowing this to happen so that when he brings his judgment, it will be just. These people are hardening their hearts, and the blood of these innocent people will stand as witness against them. It will cry out against them on the last day.”

Amulek said to Alma, “Maybe they’ll burn us too.”

Alma replied, “Whatever the Lord wills. But our work isn’t finished yet—so they won’t burn us.”

### Mocked and Imprisoned

After the bodies and the scriptures had been consumed by fire, the chief judge came and stood before Alma and Amulek. He slapped them across the face and said, “After what you’ve just seen, will you still preach to these people that they’ll be thrown into a lake of fire?”

“Look—you couldn’t save the people who were just burned. Your God didn’t save them either, even though they shared your faith.” He slapped them again. “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

This judge followed the beliefs of Nehor—the man who killed Gideon.

Alma and Amulek said nothing. So he struck them again and ordered his officers to throw them in prison.

After they’d been locked up for three days, a crowd of lawyers, judges, priests, and teachers—all followers of Nehor—came to the prison to see them. They bombarded them with questions, but Alma and Amulek didn’t answer.

The judge stood before them and said, “Why won’t you answer these people? Don’t you know I have the power to throw you into the flames?” He ordered them to speak, but they stayed silent.

They left, but came back the next day. The judge slapped them again. Others joined in, mocking them: “So you think you can stand there and judge us? Condemn our law? If you have such great power, why can’t you free yourselves?” They gnashed their teeth at them and spit on them, saying, “How are we going to look when we’re damned?”

Day after day they mocked them like this. They starved them, denied them water, stripped their clothes off, and left them naked, bound with heavy ropes in the prison.

### God’s Power Breaks Through

After many days of suffering—it was the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year of the judges—the chief judge of Ammonihah, along with many teachers and lawyers, went to the prison where Alma and Amulek were tied up.

The chief judge stood before them, struck them again, and said, “If you have the power of God, free yourselves from these ropes. Then we’ll believe the Lord will destroy this people like you said.”

One by one, they all came forward and struck them, repeating the same challenge. When the last person finished speaking, the power of God came upon Alma and Amulek. They stood up. Alma cried out, “How long must we endure this, Lord? Give us strength to match our faith in Christ—strength to break free!” And they snapped the ropes. When the people saw this, they panicked and tried to run.

Terror seized them so completely that they collapsed before reaching the prison door. The earth shook violently. The prison walls split in two and came crashing down. The chief judge, the lawyers, priests, and teachers who had beaten Alma and Amulek were killed by the falling walls.

Alma and Amulek walked out of the prison completely unharmed. The Lord had protected them because of their faith in Christ. The prison had collapsed, killing everyone inside except them. They walked straight out into the city.

When people heard the thunderous noise, crowds came running to see what happened. But when they saw Alma and Amulek walking out of the collapsed prison, fear gripped them. They scattered like a mother goat and her young fleeing from two lions.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/alma/14)*
