# Alma 43

*Simple English*

### Alma and His Sons Teach the People

Alma’s sons went out among the people to teach them God’s word. Alma could not rest either, so he also went out. We will say no more about their teaching except that they taught God’s word and the truth. They taught by the power of the Spirit. They taught the way God told them to.

### The War Begins

I will now go back to telling about the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites in the eighteenth year of the judges.

The Zoramites became Lamanites. So at the start of the eighteenth year, the Nephites saw that the Lamanites were coming to attack them. The Nephites got ready for war. They brought their armies together in the land of Jershon. The Lamanites came with thousands of soldiers. They came into the land of Antionum, which was the land of the Zoramites. A man named Zerahemnah was their leader. The Amalekites were more evil and liked to kill more than the Lamanites did. So Zerahemnah made the Amalekites and Zoramites the captains over the Lamanites. He did this to keep their hate for the Nephites strong. He wanted to control them to do what he planned. His plan was to make the Lamanites angry at the Nephites. He did this so he could have great power over them. He also wanted to gain power over the Nephites by making them slaves.

The Nephites wanted to protect their lands, their homes, their wives, and their children from their enemies. They also wanted to keep their rights and freedom. They wanted to worship God the way they believed was right. They knew that if the Lamanites won, the Lamanites would kill anyone who worshiped the true and living God. The Nephites also knew that the Lamanites hated the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. These people were called the people of Ammon. They would not fight. They had made a promise not to fight and would not break it. So if the Lamanites caught them, they would be killed. The Nephites would not let them be killed. So they gave them land to live on. The people of Ammon gave the Nephites a lot of their supplies to help support the army. So the Nephites had to fight the Lamanites by themselves. The Lamanite army included descendants of Laman and Lemuel, the sons of Ishmael, and all those who had left the Nephites. This included the Amalekites, the Zoramites, and the descendants of Noah’s priests. There were almost as many of these descendants as there were Nephites. So the Nephites had to fight their own relatives, even if it meant killing them.

The Lamanite armies gathered together in the land of Antionum. The Nephite armies were ready to meet them in the land of Jershon.

### Moroni Leads the Nephite Army

The leader of the Nephites was a man who had been chosen to be their chief captain. His name was Moroni. Moroni led all the armies and directed all their wars. He was only twenty-five years old when he became the chief commander of the Nephite armies.

He met the Lamanites at the borders of Jershon. His people had swords and other weapons of war. When the Lamanite armies saw Moroni’s people, they saw that Moroni had prepared his people with armor on their chests and arms. They also had shields to protect their heads. They wore thick clothing. Zerahemnah’s army had nothing like that. They only had their swords, bows and arrows, stones and slings. They were naked except for a piece of skin wrapped around their waists. All of them were naked except the Zoramites and the Amalekites. But they did not have armor or shields. They were very afraid of the Nephite armies because of their armor, even though the Lamanites had many more soldiers than the Nephites.

They were afraid to attack the Nephites at the borders of Jershon. So they left the land of Antionum and went into the wilderness. They traveled around through the wilderness, near the start of the river Sidon. They wanted to come into the land of Manti and take over the land. They did not think Moroni’s armies would know where they had gone.

### Moroni’s Smart Battle Plan

But as soon as they left into the wilderness, Moroni sent spies into the wilderness to watch their camp. Moroni knew about Alma’s prophecies. So he sent some men to Alma asking him to pray to the Lord. Moroni wanted to know where the Nephite armies should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites. The Lord’s word came to Alma. Alma told Moroni’s messengers that the Lamanite armies were marching around through the wilderness. They wanted to come into the land of Manti and attack the weaker part of the people. The messengers went and told this to Moroni.

Moroni left part of his army in the land of Jershon in case some of the Lamanites came and tried to take the city. Moroni took the rest of his army and marched to the land of Manti. He told all the people in that area of the land to gather together to fight against the Lamanites. They wanted to defend their lands, their country, their rights, and their freedom. So they were ready when the Lamanites came. Moroni had his army hide in the valley near the river Sidon. They were on the west side of the river in the wilderness. Moroni put spies all around so he would know when the Lamanite camp was coming.

Moroni knew what the Lamanites wanted to do. They wanted to destroy their relatives or make them slaves. They wanted to set up their own kingdom over all the land. He also knew that the Nephites only wanted to keep their lands, their freedom, and their church. So he thought it was not wrong to defend them by using a smart plan. His spies found out which way the Lamanites were going to go. So he split his army into two parts. He brought one part into the valley and hid them on the east and south of the hill Riplah. He hid the other part in the west valley, on the west of the river Sidon, going down to the borders of the land of Manti. When he had placed his army the way he wanted, he was ready to meet the Lamanites.

### The Battle at the River Sidon

The Lamanites came up on the north side of the hill where part of Moroni’s army was hidden. The Lamanites passed the hill Riplah and came into the valley. They started to cross the river Sidon. Then the army that was hidden on the south side of the hill attacked them. This army was led by a man named Lehi. He led his army around the Lamanites on the east side, behind them. When the Lamanites saw the Nephites coming behind them, they turned around and started to fight against Lehi’s army. Fighting and death started on both sides. But it was worse for the Lamanites. They had no protection from the hard blows of the Nephites’ swords. Almost every strike brought death. Once in a while, a Nephite soldier fell from their swords and lost blood. But the Nephite soldiers were protected on the important parts of their bodies by their chest armor, arm shields, and head plates. And so the Nephites kept killing many Lamanites.

The Lamanites became scared because so many of them were dying. They started to run toward the river Sidon. Lehi and his men chased them. The Lamanites were driven into the river Sidon, and they crossed it. Lehi kept his armies on the bank of the river so they would not cross. Moroni and his army met the Lamanites in the valley on the other side of the river Sidon. Moroni and his army started to attack them and kill them. The Lamanites ran away from them again toward the land of Manti. They were met again by Moroni’s armies.

### Fighting for Different Reasons

The Lamanites fought very hard. The Lamanites had never been known to fight with such great strength and courage, not even from the beginning. The Zoramites and Amalekites, who were their captains and leaders, pushed them to fight harder. So did Zerahemnah, who was their chief captain and commander. They fought like dragons. Many Nephites were killed by them. They cut through many of their head plates. They broke through many of their chest plates. They cut off many of their arms. The Lamanites attacked with wild anger. But the Nephites were fighting for a better reason. They were not fighting to be kings or to have power. They were fighting for their homes, their freedom, their wives, and their children. They were fighting for their right to worship and their church. They were doing what they felt was their duty to God. The Lord had said to them and to their fathers: If you do not attack first or second, you do not have to let your enemies kill you. And again, the Lord said: You must defend your families, even if you have to die fighting. This is why the Nephites fought against the Lamanites. They were defending themselves, their families, their lands, their country, their rights, and their religion.

### The Nephites Cry Out for Freedom

When Moroni’s men saw how wild and angry the Lamanites were, they were about to give up and run away. Moroni saw what they were thinking. So he filled their hearts with these thoughts: their lands, their freedom from slavery. They turned back toward the Lamanites. They all cried out together to the Lord their God for their freedom. They started to fight the Lamanites with power. At the same time they cried to the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites started to run away from them. They ran all the way to the river Sidon.

The Lamanites had more soldiers. They had more than twice as many soldiers as the Nephites. But they were driven back so much that they were pushed together in one group in the valley by the river Sidon. Moroni’s armies surrounded them. They were on both sides of the river. Lehi’s men were on the east. When Zerahemnah saw Lehi’s men on the east side of the river Sidon and Moroni’s armies on the west side of the river, he saw that the Nephites surrounded them. They were filled with fear. When Moroni saw their fear, he told his men to stop killing them.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/simple/alma/43)*
