0 SABoM Alma 44

The Book of Alma

CHAPTER 44

CHAPTER 44 Captain Moroni orders his army to stop killing Lamanites--The Nephites won the battle because God was on their side--The leader of the Lamanites (Zarahemnah) surrenders to Moroni--Zarahemnah tries to kill Moroni, but a Nephite soldier stops him by scalping him--Some of the Lamanites continue to fight, but are easily killed by the Nephites--Zarahemnah surrenders and Moroni stops killing the Lamanites (74 BCE) Previous chapter | Next chapter

A live scalping and a surrender
AbsurdityIntoleranceCruelty 44:1-24

1 And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace from them. And Moroni said unto Zerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.

2 Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the yoke of bondage. But this is the very cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion.

After the battle, Moroni said to Zerahemnah,

We don't want to be men of blood.

So we're going to stop killing you.

3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.

4Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.

5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us --

God gave us power over you because he likes our faith, religion, rites, and church.

6 Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye deliver up your weapons of war unto us, and we will seek not your blood, but we will spare your lives, if ye will go your way and come not again to war against us.

So give us your weapons and we won't kill you.

7 And now, if ye do not this, behold, ye are in our hands, and I will command my men that they shall fall upon you, and inflict the wounds of death in your bodies, that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall have power over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage.

Otherwise I'll command my men to inflict wounds of death upon your bodies so that you become extinct.

8 And now it came to pass that when Zerahemnah had heard these sayings he came forth and delivered up his sword and his cimeter, and his bow into the hands of Moroni, and said unto him: Behold, here are our weapons of war; we will deliver them up unto you, but we will not suffer ourselves to take an oath unto you, which we know that we shall break, and also our children; but take our weapons of war, and suffer that we may depart into the wilderness; otherwise we will retain our swords, and we will perish or conquer.

The Lamanite leader, Zarahemnah, handed in his weapons: a sword, a scimitar, and a bow. Then he said to Moroni,

I'm not going to swear we won't attack you again, because we'd just break that promise.

9 Behold, we are not of your faith; we do not believe that it is God that has delivered us into your hands; but we believe that it is your cunning that has preserved you from our swords. Behold, it is your breastplates and your shields that have preserved you.

Oh, and by the way, it wasn't God that won you the battle.

It was your fancy breastplates and shields.

10 And now when Zerahemnah had made an end of speaking these words, Moroni returned the sword and the weapons of war, which he had received, unto Zerahemnah, saying: Behold, we will end the conflict.

11 Now I cannot recall the words which I have spoken, therefore as the Lord liveth, ye shall not depart except ye depart with an oath that ye will not return again against us to war. Now as ye are in our hands we will spill your blood upon the ground, or ye shall submit to the conditions which I have proposed.

Moroni gave back Zarahemnah's weapons and said,

Okay, but you're still going to have to promise not to attack us, or we'll spill your blood on the ground.

12 And now when Moroni had said these words, Zerahemnah retained his sword, and he was angry with Moroni, and he rushed forward that he might slay Moroni; but as he raised his sword, behold, one of Moroni's soldiers smote it even to the earth, and it broke by the hilt; and he also smote Zerahemnah that he took off his scalp and it fell to the earth. And Zerahemnah withdrew from before them into the midst of his soldiers.

When Zarahemnah got his sword back, he rushed at Moroni, and tried to kill him.

But before he could, one of Moroni's soldiers broke Zerahemnah's sword and then scalped him (while he was still alive).

Then Zerahemnah ran away.

13 And it came to pass that the soldier who stood by, who smote off the scalp of Zerahemnah, took up the scalp from off the ground by the hair, and laid it upon the point of his sword, and stretched it forth unto them, saying unto them with a loud voice:

14 Even as this scalp has fallen to the earth, which is the scalp of your chief, so shall ye fall to the earth except ye will deliver up your weapons of war and depart with a covenant of peace.

The soldier took his scalp and put it on the tip of his sword and taunted the rest of the Lamanite army with it.

15 Now there were many, when they heard these words and saw the scalp which was upon the sword, that were struck with fear; and many came forth and threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni, and entered into a covenant of peace. And as many as entered into a covenant they suffered to depart into the wilderness.

Many of the Lamanites surrendered and threw down their weapons at Moroni's feet.

They promised not to fight again and then ran off into the wilderness.

16 Now it came to pass that Zerahemnah was exceedingly wroth, and he did stir up the remainder of his soldiers to anger, to contend more powerfully against the Nephites.

The rest of the army rallied, though, behind Zarahemnah, who was (understandably, since he had been scalped!) angry.

17 And now Moroni was angry, because of the stubbornness of the Lamanites; therefore he commanded his people that they should fall upon them and slay them. And it came to pass that they began to slay them; yea, and the Lamanites did contend with their swords and their might.

Moroni was also angry, because the Lamanites were being so stubborn. He commanded his people to start killing the Lamanites.

18 But behold, their naked skins and their bare heads were exposed to the sharp swords of the Nephites; yea, behold they were pierced and smitten, yea, and did fall exceedingly fast before the swords of the Nephites; and they began to be swept down, even as the soldier of Moroni had prophesied.

And since they were naked, they were easy to kill.

19 Now Zerahemnah, when he saw that they were all about to be destroyed, cried mightily unto Moroni, promising that he would covenant and also his people with them, if they would spare the remainder of their lives, that they never would come to war again against them.

Zarahemnah, seeing that they were all about to die, finally agreed to promise not to attack again.

Moroni accepted, and the Lamanites surrendered.

20And it came to pass that Moroni caused that the work of death should cease again among the people. And he took the weapons of war from the Lamanites; and after they had entered into a covenant with him of peace they were suffered to depart into the wilderness.

The Nephites took the weapons, made them enter into a covenant, and then let them go into the wilderness.

21Now the number of their dead was not numbered because of the greatness of the number; yea, the number of their dead was exceedingly great, both on the Nephites and on the Lamanites.

22 And it came to pass that they did cast their dead into the waters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are buried in the depths of the sea.

23 And the armies of the Nephites, or of Moroni, returned and came to their houses and their lands.

There were many deaths on both sides.

The Nephites threw the dead bodies into the waters of Sidon, and then returned to their cities.

24 And thus ended the eighteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And thus ended the record of Alma, which was written upon the plates of Nephi.

This was the end of the eighteenth year of the judges, and also of the record of Alma, written on the plates of Nephi.

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