1And it came to pass that the army of the king returned, having searched in vain for the people of the Lord.
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We were smitten with famine and sore afflictions; for we were slow to remember the Lord our God. 9:3
Trivia: In 124 BCE, how many of King Benjamin's people took on the name of Christ?
1And it came to pass that the army of the king returned, having searched in vain for the people of the Lord.
Noah's army searched for the people of the Lord, but they couldn't find them.
2 And now behold, the forces of the king were small, having been reduced, and there began to be a division among the remainder of the people.
3 And the lesser part began to breathe out threatenings against the king, and there began to be a great contention among them.
The people were divided, with much contention among them.
4 And now there was a man among them whose name was Gideon, and he being a strong man and an enemy to the king, therefore he drew his sword, and swore in his wrath that he would slay the king.
One strong man named Gideon swore that he'd kill the king.
5And it came to pass that he fought with the king; and when the king saw that he was about to overpower him, he fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple.
When the king saw that Gideon was after him, he went up into the tower next to the temple.
6 And Gideon pursued after him and was about to get upon the tower to slay the king, and the king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.
Gideon pursued the king and was about to slay him, when Noah saw that the Lamanites were preparing to attack the city.
7 And now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul, saying: Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people.
He told Gideon that he shouldn't kill him now, or else his people will be killed by the Lamanites.
8 And now the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life; nevertheless, Gideon did spare his life.
So Gideon spared his life.
9 And the king commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites, and he himself did go before them, and they did flee into the wilderness, with their women and their children.
10And it came to pass that the Lamanites did pursue them, and did overtake them, and began to slay them.
The king his people ran into the wilderness, but the Lamanites caught up to them and began to kill them.
11Now it came to pass that the king commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites.
Then Noah commanded the men to abandon their wives and children, and to run for their lives.
12 Now there were many that would not leave them, but had rather stay and perish with them. And the rest left their wives and their children and fled.
13And it came to pass that those who tarried with their wives and their children caused that their fair daughters should stand forth and plead with the Lamanites that they would not slay them.
Some of them did, but the others stayed with their families and tried to protect them by other means: by having their fair daughters beg the Lamanites not to kill them.
14And it came to pass that the Lamanites had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty of their women.
And it worked. The Lamanites were so taken by the beautiful daughters that the decided not to kill them.
15 Therefore the Lamanites did spare their lives, and took them captives and carried them back to the land of Nephi, and granted unto them that they might possess the land, under the conditions that they would deliver up king Noah into the hands of the Lamanites, and deliver up their property, even one half of all they possessed, one half of their gold, and their silver, and all their precious things, and thus they should pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites from year to year.
So the Lamanites said they'd allow them to return the land of Nephi if they agreed to give the Lamanites half of everything they owned and deliver King Noah to them.
16 And now there was one of the sons of the king among those that were taken captive, whose name was Limhi.
17 And now Limhi was desirous that his father should not be destroyed; nevertheless, Limhi was not ignorant of the iniquities of his father, he himself being a just man.
Limhi was the son of King Noah, and though he was a just man, he didn't want his father to be killed.
18And it came to pass that Gideon sent men into the wilderness secretly, to search for the king and those that were with him. And it came to pass that they met the people in the wilderness, all save the king and his priests.
Meanwhile, Gideon sent men to search for King Noah.
19 Now they had sworn in their hearts that they would return to the land of Nephi, and if their wives and their children were slain, and also those that had tarried with them, that they would seek revenge, and also perish with them.
20 And the king commanded them that they should not return; and they were angry with the king, and caused that he should suffer, even unto death by fire.
The Nephites who fled into the wilderness were angry at King Noah for not letting them return to the land of Nephi.
So they burned Noah to death and made his righteous son, Limhi, king. Then they returned to the land of Nephi.
The people found the priests and were about to kill them too, but they escaped.
22And it came to pass that they were about to return to the land of Nephi, and they met the men of Gideon. And the men of Gideon told them of all that had happened to their wives and their children; and that the Lamanites had granted unto them that they might possess the land by paying a tribute to the Lamanites of one half of all they possessed.
23 And the people told the men of Gideon that they had slain the king, and his priests had fled from them farther into the wilderness.
24And it came to pass that after they had ended the ceremony, that they returned to the land of Nephi, rejoicing, because their wives and their children were not slain; and they told Gideon what they had done to the king.
As the people were returning to the land of Nephi, they met Gideon and told him they had killed the king.
25And it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites made an oath unto them, that his people should not slay them.
26 And also Limhi, being the son of the king, having the kingdom conferred upon him by the people, made oath unto the king of the Lamanites that his people should pay tribute unto him, even one half of all they possessed.
27And it came to pass that Limhi began to establish the kingdom and to establish peace among his people.
The Lamanite king swore he wouldn't kill the people.
The people made Limhi the king and he promised to give the Lamanite king one-half of everything the people owned.
28 And the king of the Lamanites set guards round about the land, that he might keep the people of Limhi in the land, that they might not depart into the wilderness; and he did support his guards out of the tribute which he did receive from the Nephites.
The king of the Lamanites posted guards around the city to keep Limhi's people in the land.
29 And now king Limhi did have continual peace in his kingdom for the space of two years, that the Lamanites did not molest them nor seek to destroy them.
And there was peace for two years.