The City of Antiparah Falls
I got a letter from King Ammoron. He said if I gave back the prisoners we had taken, he would give us the city of Antiparah.
But I sent a letter back to the king. I said our army was strong enough to take the city of Antiparah ourselves. It would not be wise to give back the prisoners for that city. We would only give back our prisoners if we could trade them for ours.
Ammoron said no to my letter. He would not trade prisoners. So we got ready to attack the city of Antiparah.
But the people of Antiparah left the city. They ran away to their other cities to make them stronger. So the city of Antiparah came into our hands.
This ended the twenty-eighth year of the judges.
Fighting for the City of Cumeni
At the start of the twenty-ninth year, we got more food. We also got more soldiers from the land of Zarahemla and the lands around it. Six thousand men came. Sixty sons of the Ammonites also came to join their brothers in my little group of two thousand. We were strong. We had plenty of food.
We wanted to fight the army that was guarding the city of Cumeni. I will show you that we soon got what we wanted. We used our strong army to surround the city of Cumeni at night. This was just before they were going to get more food. We camped around the city for many nights. But we slept with our swords ready. We kept guards so the Lamanites could not sneak up on us at night and kill us. They tried many times. But each time they tried, we killed them. At last, their food came. They were about to bring it into the city at night. But we were Nephites, not Lamanites. So we took them and their food.
Even though the Lamanites were cut off from help this way, they still wanted to keep the city. So we needed to send that food to Judea. We sent our prisoners to the land of Zarahemla. Not many days passed before the Lamanites lost all hope of help. So they gave us the city. This is how we got the city of Cumeni.
The Problem with Prisoners
But we had so many prisoners. Even with all our men, we had to use all our strength to guard them or kill them.
They would break out in large groups. They would fight with stones and clubs or anything they could grab. We had to kill more than two thousand of them after they had given up as prisoners of war. So we had to choose. We could kill them or guard them with swords all the way to the land of Zarahemla. Also, our food was just enough for our own people. This was even after we took food from the Lamanites.
In these hard times, it was very hard to decide what to do with these prisoners of war. But we decided to send them to the land of Zarahemla. So we picked some of our men to take the prisoners there.
But the next day, they came back. We did not ask them about the prisoners. The Lamanites were attacking us. Our men got back just in time to save us from being defeated. Ammon had sent the Lamanites more food and many more soldiers. The men we sent with the prisoners got back just in time to stop the Lamanites. They were about to beat us.
The Young Warriors Fight Bravely
But my little group of two thousand and sixty young men fought very hard. They stood firm against the Lamanites. They killed all who fought against them. The rest of our army was about to give up to the Lamanites. But those two thousand and sixty young men stayed firm and brave. They obeyed every command we gave them. Because of their faith, God answered their prayers. I remembered what they told me. Their mothers had taught them these things. These young men and the men who took the prisoners gave us this great win. They beat the Lamanites. So the Lamanites were pushed back to the city of Manti.
We kept our city of Cumeni. We were not all killed by the sword. But we lost many people.
After the Lamanites ran away, I gave orders right away. My men who were hurt were taken from among the dead. I had their wounds bandaged. Two hundred of my two thousand and sixty young men had passed out from losing so much blood. But because God is good, not one of them died. This surprised us and surprised our whole army. Not one of them died. Every one of them had been hurt many times. Our whole army was amazed that they stayed alive. A thousand of our other brothers were killed. We knew this was God’s amazing power. It happened because of their great faith in what they had been taught. They believed there was a fair God. Anyone who did not doubt would be saved by his amazing power.
This was the faith of these young men I have been talking about. They are young. Their minds are strong. They trust in God all the time.
Gid’s Report
After we took care of our hurt men and buried our dead and the many dead Lamanites, we asked Gid about the prisoners. He had started to take them to the land of Zarahemla.
Gid was the captain over the group that was guarding the prisoners.
These are the words Gid said to me: We started to go to the land of Zarahemla with our prisoners. We met some of our scouts. They had been watching the Lamanite camp. They shouted to us: The Lamanite army is marching toward the city of Cumeni. They will attack and destroy our people.
Our prisoners heard them shouting. This made them feel brave. They fought back against us. Because they fought back, we had to use our swords on them. They ran at our swords as a group. Most of them were killed. The rest broke through and ran away from us.
After they ran away, we could not catch them. So we marched quickly back to the city of Cumeni. We got there in time to help our brothers keep the city safe.
God saved us from our enemies again. We thank God. He saved us. He has done this great thing for us.
When I, Helaman, heard what Gid said, I was filled with great joy. God was so good to keep us safe so we did not all die. I believe the souls of those who were killed are now resting with God.