The Lamanites Attack the People of Anti-Nephi-Lehi
The Lamanites who went to war against the Nephites fought hard to destroy them. But they could not win. So they went back to the land of Nephi.
The Amalekites were very angry because they lost. They could not get revenge on the Nephites. So they started making the people angry at their relatives, the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. They began to kill them again.
These people would not pick up their weapons. They let their enemies kill them.
Ammon Plans to Take the People to Safety
Ammon and his brothers saw their enemies killing these people they loved so much. These people had treated them like angels sent from God to save them. So when Ammon and his brothers saw this killing, they felt sad for them. They said to the king, “Let us bring together these people of the Lord. Let us go down to the land of Zarahemla to our relatives, the Nephites. We can escape from our enemies so we won’t be killed.”
But the king said to them, “The Nephites will kill us. We have killed many of them and sinned against them.”
Ammon said, “I will go and ask the Lord. If he says to go down to our relatives, will you go?”
The king said to him, “Yes. If the Lord says to go, we will go down to our relatives. We will be their servants until we make up for all the killing and sins we did against them.”
But Ammon said to him, “It is against the law of our relatives. My father made a law that says there should not be any servants like that among them. So let us go down and trust in the kindness of our relatives.”
But the king said to him, “Ask the Lord. If he says to go, we will go. If not, we will die in this land.”
The Lord Tells Them to Leave
So Ammon went and asked the Lord. The Lord said to him, “Get these people out of this land so they don’t die. Satan has a strong hold on the hearts of the Amalekites. They are making the Lamanites angry at their relatives to kill them. So leave this land. God blesses these people in this time. I will keep them safe.”
Then Ammon went and told the king everything the Lord had said to him.
They brought together all their people. All the people of the Lord gathered together. They brought all their sheep and cows. They left the land and went into the wilderness between the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla. They came near the edge of the land.
Ammon said to them, “My brothers and I will go into the land of Zarahemla. You stay here until we return. We will find out how our relatives feel. We will see if they want you to come into their land.”
A Happy Meeting with Alma
As Ammon was going into the land, he and his brothers met Alma at the place that was spoken about. This was a happy meeting.
Ammon’s joy was so great that he was filled up with it. He was swallowed up in the joy of his God. It used up all his strength. He fell down to the ground again.
Wasn’t this a lot of joy? This is the kind of joy that only people get when they truly feel sorry for their sins and humbly look for happiness.
Alma’s joy in meeting his brothers was great. Aaron, Omner, and Himni were happy too. But their joy was not so strong that it used up all their strength.
The Nephites Offer the Land of Jershon
Alma took his brothers back to the land of Zarahemla. He took them to his own house. They went and told the Chief Judge everything that had happened to them in the land of Nephi with their relatives, the Lamanites.
The Chief Judge sent a message throughout all the land. He wanted to hear from the people about letting in their relatives, the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.
The people answered, “We will give up the land of Jershon. It is on the east by the sea. It is next to the land Bountiful on the south. We will give this land of Jershon to our relatives to own. We will put our armies between the land Jershon and the land Nephi. We will keep our relatives in the land Jershon safe. We are doing this for our relatives because they are afraid to pick up weapons against their relatives. They don’t want to sin. This fear came because they feel so sorry about all the killing they did and their terrible sins. We will do this for our relatives so they can own the land Jershon. We will keep them safe from their enemies with our armies. But they must give us some of their things to help us. That way we can take care of our armies.”
When Ammon heard this, he went back to the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. Alma went with him into the wilderness where they had put up their tents. He told them all these things. Alma also told them about his meeting with Ammon, Aaron, and his brothers.
The People of Ammon
This brought great joy to them. They went down into the land of Jershon and took the land as their own. The Nephites called them the people of Ammon. That was their name from then on.
They were part of the Nephites. They were also counted among the people of the Church of God. People knew them for their strong love for God and for other people. They were completely honest and truthful in everything. They were strong in their faith in Christ until the end.
They hated the idea of killing their relatives. No one could ever make them pick up weapons against their relatives. They were never afraid to die. They had hope in Christ and in coming back to life after death. So death did not have power over them because of Christ’s win over it. They would let their relatives kill them in the worst and most painful way before they would pick up a sword to fight back.
They were people who loved God and were loved by others. The Lord favored them very much.