# Moroni 9

*Paraphrase*

### A Father’s Dark Report

My dear son, I’m writing again so you know I’m still alive. But what I have to tell you is heartbreaking. We just fought a brutal battle with the Lamanites, and we lost. Archeantus is dead—killed by the sword—and so are Luram and Emron. We’ve lost so many of our best men.

I’m afraid the Lamanites will wipe us out. Our people won’t turn back to God, and Satan keeps stirring them up to rage against each other. I keep working with them. When I speak God’s word sharply, they tremble and get angry with me. When I soften my approach, they harden their hearts. I’m afraid God’s Spirit has stopped reaching out to them. They’re so consumed with rage that they don’t even fear death anymore. They’ve lost all love for one another. All they want now is blood and revenge.

But my dear son, despite how hardened they are, we can’t give up. If we stop working, we’ll stand condemned. While we’re still alive in these bodies, we have work to do—to defeat the enemy of all that’s right, and to finally rest our souls in God’s kingdom.

### Unspeakable Horrors

Now let me tell you about the horrors our people are suffering. According to what I learned from Amoron, the Lamanites have taken many prisoners from the tower of Sherrizah—men, women, and children. They killed the husbands and fathers. Then they’re forcing the women to eat the flesh of their own husbands, and the children to eat the flesh of their fathers. They barely give them any water.

But as terrible as that evil is, it doesn’t compare to what our own people have done in Moriantum. They’ve taken many Lamanite women prisoner. After stealing what was most precious to them—their purity and dignity— they murdered them in the cruelest ways, torturing their bodies to death. And after that, they ate their flesh like wild animals—their hearts are that hard. They do it as some kind of twisted badge of courage.

My dear son, how can people sink to this? They’ve lost all humanity. Just a few years ago, they were civilized and good. But now—how can people take pleasure in such evil? How can we expect God to hold back his judgment against us? My heart cries out in anguish for this people. Come in judgment, O God, and cover their sins, their wickedness, their atrocities—hide them from your sight.

### A Crumbling Army

And there’s more, my son. Many widows and their daughters are stranded in Sherrizah. The Lamanites took most of the food supplies, and what was left, Zenephi’s army carried off. They’ve left these women to wander wherever they can find food. Many old women collapse along the way and die. The army I have with me is weak. The Lamanite forces are between Sherrizah and me. And everyone who fled to Aaron’s army has been killed with terrible brutality.

The depravity of my people! They have no discipline, no mercy. I’m just one man with human strength. I can’t enforce my orders anymore. They’ve grown strong in their corruption. They’re brutal to everyone—they spare no one, not the old, not the young. They delight in everything except what’s good. The suffering of our women and children across this whole land is beyond description. Words can’t capture it. No one could write it down.

I won’t go on about this nightmare any longer. You know how wicked these people are. You know they have no principles left, no feeling. Their evil has surpassed even the Lamanites. My son, I can’t even pray for them. I’m afraid God would strike me down for asking.

### Hope for the Son

But I do pray for you. I trust Christ will save you. I pray God will keep you alive long enough to witness either our people returning to him—or their complete destruction. Because I know they’ll be destroyed unless they turn back and repent.

And if they are destroyed, it will be just like the Jaredites—because of their stubborn hearts, their thirst for blood and revenge. If that happens, many of our people will defect to the Lamanites, and more will follow. So write down what you can while you’re still alive. I may die without seeing you again. But I hope to see you soon—I have sacred records I need to pass on to you.

My son, stay faithful to Christ. Don’t let what I’ve written crush you or drag you down to despair. Let Christ lift you up. Let his suffering and death, the way he appeared to our ancestors, his mercy and patience, the hope of his glory and eternal life—let all of this rest in your mind forever. May the grace of God the Father, whose throne is high in heaven, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at his right hand until all things bow to him—may their grace be with you forever. Amen.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/moroni/9)*
