Moroni’s Terms
The Lamanites stopped and pulled back. Moroni called out: “Zerahemnah! We’re not bloodthirsty men. You know you’re at our mercy, but we don’t want to kill you.”
“We didn’t come here to shed blood for power. We don’t want to enslave anyone. But that’s exactly why you came after us—you’re angry about our religion.”
“Now you see the Lord is with us. He’s delivered you into our hands. This happened because of our faith in Christ. You see now that you can’t destroy what we believe.”
“This is God’s true faith. You can see he’ll support us, keep us, preserve us—as long as we stay faithful to him and hold on to our religion. The Lord will never let us be destroyed unless we betray our faith and turn away from him.”
“So now, Zerahemnah, in the name of the Almighty God who’s made us strong—we’ve beaten you because of our faith, our worship, our church, and because we’re fighting for our wives and children. We’re fighting for the freedom that ties us to our land and country. We’re fighting to protect God’s word, which brings us all our joy. We’re fighting for everything that matters most.”
“And there’s more. I’m commanding you—by your own desire to stay alive—hand over your weapons. Do that, and we won’t spill your blood. We’ll let you go if you promise never to make war against us again.”
“But if you refuse, you’re in our hands. I’ll order my men to attack and kill you until you’re wiped out. Then we’ll see who has power over this land. We’ll see who ends up in chains.”
Zerahemnah Refuses
When Zerahemnah heard this, he stepped forward and handed his sword, scimitar, and bow to Moroni. “Here are our weapons,” he said. “We’ll give them up, but we won’t make an oath we know we’ll break—we won’t curse ourselves and our children like that. Take our weapons and let us leave into the wilderness. Otherwise, we’ll keep our swords and either die fighting or win.”
“We don’t share your faith. We don’t believe God gave us into your hands. We think it was your cleverness that saved you from our swords—your breastplates and shields that protected you.”
When Zerahemnah finished, Moroni handed back the sword and weapons, saying, “Then we’ll end this conflict.”
“But I can’t take back what I’ve said. As the Lord lives, you’re not leaving unless you swear an oath that you’ll never come back to fight us. You’re in our hands—either we spill your blood on the ground, or you agree to my terms.”
The Scalp on the Sword
At those words, Zerahemnah kept his sword. Furious, he rushed at Moroni to kill him. But as he raised his weapon, one of Moroni’s soldiers struck it to the ground, breaking it at the hilt. The same soldier then slashed Zerahemnah, cutting off his scalp. It fell to the earth, and Zerahemnah staggered back into his own ranks.
The soldier who’d struck Zerahemnah picked up the scalp by the hair, lifted it on the point of his sword, and held it high. He shouted at the enemy troops:
“Just as this scalp—the scalp of your chief—has fallen to the ground, so will you fall unless you surrender your weapons and leave with a covenant of peace!”
Many of them, when they heard those words and saw the scalp on the sword, were gripped with fear. They rushed forward and threw down their weapons at Moroni’s feet, making a covenant of peace. Everyone who made that promise was allowed to leave into the wilderness.
The Final Battle
But Zerahemnah was enraged. He stirred up the rest of his soldiers, whipping them into a fury to fight the Nephites harder.
Moroni, angry at their stubbornness, ordered his men to attack and kill them. The slaughter began. The Lamanites fought back fiercely with everything they had.
But their bare skin and unprotected heads were exposed to the Nephites’ sharp swords. They were pierced and cut down. They fell fast before the blades, swept away just as Moroni’s soldier had warned.
When Zerahemnah saw they were about to be wiped out, he cried out desperately to Moroni, promising that he and his people would make a covenant if Moroni would spare whoever was left—they’d never make war again.
Moroni stopped the killing. He took the Lamanites’ weapons, and after they’d made their covenant of peace, he let them go into the wilderness.
The dead were too many to count. The number was staggering on both sides—Nephites and Lamanites.
They threw the bodies into the river Sidon, and they were carried away and buried in the depths of the sea.
Moroni’s armies returned home to their houses and their lands.
And that was the end of the eighteenth year of the judges’ rule over the Nephites. That’s also where Alma’s record, written on the plates of Nephi, comes to a close.