Episode 22: The priests of Noah steal the daughters of the Lamanites

Mosiah 20-21

20 ¹ The daughters of the Lamanites liked to gather and sing and dance in this secret place in Shemlon. ² One day, the priests of King Noah kidnapped twenty-four of them and carried them into the wilderness.

The people of Limhi fight like lions and dragons

⁶ When the Lamanites found out that their daughters were missing, they suspected that the people of Limhi stole them, so their king sent an army to kill the people of Limhi. ⁸ But King Limhi was in the tower and saw them coming, so he sent his people to attack them in the fields and forests. ^9-10 So when the Lamanites came to attack, the people of Limhi fought like lions and began to kill them. ¹¹ The Lamanites outnumbered them more than two to one, but the people of Limhi fought like dragons.

The fighting stops

¹² The king of the Lamanites was wounded and appeared to be dead. But he wasn’t. ¹³ So they took him to Limhi and said to him, “Let’s kill him.” ¹⁴ But Limhi said to them, “No, don’t kill him. Bring him to me.” So they brought him to Limhi and he said to him, “Why are we fighting?” ¹⁵ The Lamanite king said, “You stole our daughters.” ¹⁶ “Really?” said King Limhi, “I didn’t know about that. I’ll find whoever did that and kill them.”

^17-18 When Gideon heard about these things, he said to King Limhi, “You don’t need to look for the daughter stealers. Remember your father’s priests? They did it.”

^23-26 So King Limhi told the Lamanite king that the priests stole the Lamanites’ daughters, and the two kings agreed to stop fighting.

Three more wars between Lamanites and Nephites

21 ¹ Limhi and his people returned to the city of Nephi and dwelt there in peace for a while. ² But the Lamanites were getting angry at the Nephites again and began to gather at the borders.

³ The Lamanites didn’t kill the Nephites because of the agreement with King Limhi, but they smote them on the cheeks, ordered them around, made them carry heavy things, and treated them like dumb asses. ⁵ All this was done to fulfill the word of the Lord.

⁷ So the Nephites put on their armor and went to war to drive the Lamanites out of their land. ⁸ But the Lamanites were victorious and killed many of them. ^9-10 The Nephites got angry again and attacked the Lamanites. ¹¹ But they were defeated again. ¹² Then they went a third time, with the same result.

The Nephites humble themselves

^13-14 The Nephites humbled themselves and cried out to God. ¹⁵ But the Lord was slow to hear their cry. Nevertheless he did hear it and softened the hearts of the Lamanites, who began to ease their burdens. But God didn’t deliver them out of bondage.

Ammon arrives

²² The Lamanites and the Nephites began to get along, until the time that Ammon came into the land. ²³ When King Limhi saw Ammon and his brothers, he thought they were priests of Noah, so he threw them in prison. ²⁴ But then he heard they were from the land of Zarahelma, which filled him with joy.

Dry bones and plates of ore

²⁵ King Limhi had previously sent men to search for the land of Zarahelma, but they got lost in the wilderness and couldn’t find it. ²⁶ But they did find a land that was covered with dry bones, and they supposed it to be the land of Zarahelma. ²⁷ They found there a record that was engraved on plates of ore.

²⁸ When King Limhi heard that Ammon could interpret the plates he was filled with joy. And Ammon rejoiced too. ²⁹ But Ammon and his brethren were also filled with sorrow because so many of their brethren had been killed.

³³ King Limhi and many of his people wanted to get baptized, but no one in the land was authorized to baptize. Ammon refused to baptize them, saying he was unworthy.

³⁴ So they couldn’t form a church, but had to wait for Alma, who had fled into the wilderness. ³⁶ Meanwhile, they all focused their attention on freeing themselves from the Lamanites.