Alma 14

The People Reject Alma and Amulek

After he finished speaking to the people, many of them believed his words. They started to repent and read the Scriptures. But most of them wanted to destroy Alma and Amulek. They were angry with Alma because of the direct words he said to Zeezrom. They also said that Amulek had lied to them. They said he spoke badly about their law and about their lawyers and judges. They were angry with Alma and Amulek because they had spoken so clearly against their evil ways. They tried to secretly get rid of them.

But they didn’t do that. Instead they grabbed them and tied them up with strong ropes. Then they took them to the chief judge of the land. The people came forward and spoke against them. They said that Alma and Amulek spoke badly about the law, their lawyers and judges, and all the people in the land. They also said Alma and Amulek taught there was only one God and that he would send his Son to the people, but he would not save them. The people said many things like this against Alma and Amulek. This was done in front of the chief judge of the land.

Zeezrom Feels Sorry

Zeezrom was shocked by the words that had been spoken. He knew about the confusion he had caused among the people with his lies. His soul began to hurt because he felt guilty. The pains of hell started to surround him. He began to cry out to the people. He said: 'I am guilty. These men have done nothing wrong before God.' He began to speak up for them. But the people spoke badly to him. They said: 'Are you controlled by the Devil too?' They spit on him and threw him out. They also threw out all the people who believed the words spoken by Alma and Amulek. They sent men to throw stones at them.

Believers Are Burned

They brought their wives and children together. Anyone who believed in the word of God or had been taught to believe, they threw them into the fire. They also brought out their records that had the Holy Scriptures. They threw those into the fire too so they would be burned and destroyed. They took Alma and Amulek and made them watch the people being burned in the fire.

When Amulek saw the pain of the women and children burning in the fire, he was also in pain. He said to Alma: 'How can we watch this terrible thing? Let’s use the power of God that is in us and save them from the fire.' But Alma said to him: 'The Spirit tells me that I must not do that. The Lord receives them to himself in glory. He allows this to happen because of how hard the people’s hearts are. This way the punishments he will give them in his anger will be fair. The blood of these innocent people will stand as proof against the evil people. It will cry out against them on the last day.'

Amulek said to Alma: 'Maybe they will burn us too.' Alma said: 'Let it be what the Lord wants. But our work is not finished. So they will not burn us.'

Alma and Amulek Are Beaten

After the bodies of those who had been thrown into the fire were burned up, and the records were burned with them, the chief judge of the land came to Alma and Amulek. They were still tied up. He hit them on their cheeks with his hand. He said to them: 'After what you have seen, will you preach again to these people that they will be thrown into a lake of fire?' 'You see that you didn’t have the power to save those who were thrown into the fire. God didn’t save them because they followed your teaching.' The judge hit them on their cheeks again. He asked: 'What do you have to say for yourselves?'

This judge followed the ways and beliefs of Nehor, who killed Gideon.

Alma and Amulek didn’t answer him at all. He hit them again and told the officers to put them in prison.

In Prison

After they had been in prison three days, many lawyers, judges, priests, and teachers came. They all followed the beliefs of Nehor. They came into the prison to see Alma and Amulek. They asked them many questions, but Alma and Amulek didn’t answer them. The judge stood before them. He said: 'Why don’t you answer these people’s questions? Don’t you know I have the power to throw you into the fire?' He told them to speak, but they didn’t answer. The people left and went away. But they came back the next day. The judge hit them on their cheeks again. Many others also came and hit them. They said: 'Will you stand and judge these people and say bad things about our law? If you have such great power, why don’t you free yourselves?' They said many things like this to them. They ground their teeth at them and spit on them. They said: 'What will we look like when we are punished?' They said many things like this to them. They made fun of them for many days. They didn’t give them food so they would be hungry. They didn’t give them water so they would be thirsty. They also took away their clothes so they were naked. They kept them tied up with strong ropes in prison.

God Frees Alma and Amulek

After they suffered like this for many days, on the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year of the judges over the people of Nephi, the chief judge and many teachers and lawyers went into the prison. They went to where Alma and Amulek were tied up with ropes. The chief judge stood before them and hit them again. He said to them: 'If you have the power of God, free yourselves from these ropes. Then we will believe that the Lord will destroy these people like you said.'

All of them came and hit them and said the same words, even the last one. When the last person finished speaking, the power of God came on Alma and Amulek. They stood up on their feet. Alma cried out: 'How long will we suffer these hard times, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength through our faith in Christ to be free.' They broke the ropes they were tied with. When the people saw this, they began to run away because they were afraid of being destroyed. They were so afraid that they fell to the ground. They couldn’t get to the outside door of the prison. The earth shook hard and the prison walls split in half. The walls fell to the ground. The chief judge and the lawyers, priests, and teachers who had hit Alma and Amulek were killed by the falling walls.

Alma and Amulek came out of the prison. They were not hurt. The Lord had given them power because of their faith in Christ. They came out of the prison right away. They were free from their ropes. The prison had fallen to the ground. Every person inside the walls died except for Alma and Amulek. They came out into the city right away.

The people heard a great noise. They came running together in crowds to see what caused it. When they saw Alma and Amulek coming out of the prison and the walls had fallen to the ground, they were very afraid. They ran away from Alma and Amulek like a goat runs from two lions with her babies. That’s how they ran from Alma and Amulek.