Episode 18: A Nephite family reunion

Mosiah 7-9

7 ¹ King Mosiah was wondering about his brethren who had left Zarahemla years ago. ² So he sent sixteen strong men to the land of Lehi-Nephi to go looking for them. ³ Ammon, a strong and mighty man, was their leader. ^4-5 They didn’t know which way to go, but after forty days of wandering, they arrived in the land of Nephi.

⁶ The next morning, Ammon and three of his men (Amaleki, Helem, and Hem) were imprisoned by the king's guard. ⁸ After two days in jail, the king brought them out for questioning. ^9-11 He told them that he was Limhi (the son of Noah, who was the son of Zeniff, who came up out of the land of Zarahemla) and then asked them to explain why they were there, or else be put to death.

¹³ Ammon said, “I am Ammon, a descendant of Zarahelma. I’ve come from the land of Zarahelma to find the people who Zeniff brought out of our land.”

¹⁴ King Limhi was glad to hear this, saying, “Now I know that relatives in the land of Zarahelma are still alive. ¹⁵ We are in bondage to the Lamanites and must pay high taxes. If you save us from them, we’ll be your slaves, because we’d rather be slaves of the Nephites than pay taxes to the Lamanites.”

¹⁶ King Limhi told his guards to release Ammon and his friends. ¹⁷ Then he sent out a proclamation telling them to come listen to his speech.

King Limhi’s speech

¹⁸ This is what he said: “Soon we will be free of the Lamanites. ²¹ King Zeniff was deceived by King Laman, which brought us under the control of the Lamanites. Since then we’ve had to pay them half of our corn, barley, grain, flocks, and herds. ^25-26 But we deserved it. God was punishing us for killing his prophet, who said we were wicked, and that Christ was coming. ²⁷ He said that Christ was God and the Father of all things.”

A Seer is Greater Than a Prophet

8 ^1-4 After King Limhi finished speaking, Ammon told everyone what had happened since the time that Zeniff left the land of Zarahemla.

⁵ King Limhi brought out the plates that contained the history of his people since they left the land of Zarahelma and asked Ammon to read them. ⁶ Ammon read the plates and Limhi asked him if he could interpret them. Ammon said that he couldn't.

^7-10 King Limhi explained how he sent forty-three people to find Zarahelma, but they couldn’t find it. They got lost in the wilderness for many days and came upon a land of many waters, which was covered with the bones of men and beasts. Among the ruins of buildings they found twenty-four golden engraved plates, breastplates of brass and copper, and rusty swords.

¹² King Limhi asked Ammon, “Do you know anyone who can translate the plates?”

¹³ Ammon said, “Yes, there's a man who can translate these records with things that are called interpreters. No one can use them without God's permission. Anyone who tries to do so will be killed.

¹⁴ The king of Zarahelma is a seer who can translate them. He has that gift from God.

¹⁵ A seer is greater than a prophet. ¹⁶ A seer is both a revelator and a prophet.”

¹⁹ When King Limhi heard this, he rejoiced exceedingly.

The record of Zeniff

9 ¹ I, Zeniff, was sent to spy on the Lamanites so that our army could destroy them. But I discovered that there were some good Lamanites, who I didn’t want to destroy.

² I suggested that we make a treaty with them, but our ruler, who was a bloodthirsty man, ordered me to be killed. However, some of the Nephites agreed with me, which led to infighting where father fought against father, and brother fought against brother. Most of our army died in the fighting. The rest of us returned to Zarahemla to tell the story to our wives and children.

³ We started our journey again into the wilderness to inherit the land of our fathers, but we were smitten with disease and famine, since we didn’t remember God well enough. ⁴ But after many days of wandering, we pitched our tents where so many of our army were previously killed.

^5-6 I and four of my men went to meet the Lamanite king. ⁷ He told his people to leave so that we could possess the land of Lehi-Nephi.^8-9 We built buildings and planted crops of corn, wheat, barley, neas, and sheum. And we prospered in the land.

¹⁰ But it was all a trick. ¹¹ Laman, the king of the Lamanites, only gave us the land so that he could enslave us. ¹² The Lamanites were lazy people; they just wanted to live off of our labor, so they could feast on our flocks and fields.

¹³ King Laman riled up his people against us. ¹⁴ In the thirteenth year of my reign in the land of Nephi, the Lamanites began to kill us and steal our animals and crops. ¹⁵ The people fled to the city of Nephi and called me for help. ¹⁶ I armed them with bows, arrows, swords, scimitars, clubs, slings, and whatever other weapons we could invent.

¹⁷ We went in to battle against the Lamanites, crying to the Lord for help. ¹⁸ God heard us and helped us kill 3043 Lamanites, driving them out of our land. ¹⁹ I helped bury their dead. 279 of our soldiers died in the battle.