They all did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shaken the earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed. Helaman 5:42 5:42
Trivia: Who in the Book of Mormon was taken by the Spirit and conveyed away?
11:1-8
1 And now it came to pass in the seventy and second year of the reign of the judges that the contentions did increase, insomuch that there were wars throughout all the land among all the people of Nephi.
2 And it was this secret band of robbers who did carry on this work of destruction and wickedness. And this war did last all that year; and in the seventy and third year it did also last.
When the last chapter ended, there began to be contentions, so much so that the people began killing each other with swords.
In this chapter, the contentions increase insomuch as there were wars throughout the land.
All this was caused, of course, by that dastardly band of secret robbers that have plagued the people throughout Helaman's tale.
So Nephi cried out to God, saying:
4 O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn unto thee.
Don't let these people die by the sword.
Send them a famine instead.
Maybe then they'll remember you.
5And so it was done, according to the words of Nephi. And there was a great famine upon the land, among all the people of Nephi. And thus in the seventy and fourth year the famine did continue, and the work of destruction did cease by the sword but became sore by famine.
And so God did what Nephi asked him to do.
6 And this work of destruction did also continue in the seventy and fifth year. For the earth was smitten that it was dry, and did not yield forth grain in the season of grain; and the whole earth was smitten, even among the Lamanites as well as among the Nephites, so that they were smitten that they did perish by thousands in the more wicked parts of the land.
There was a world-wide famine, killing thousands of people in the more wicked parts of the land.
11:7-17
7And it came to pass that the people saw that they were about to perish by famine, and they began to remember the Lord their God; and they began to remember the words of Nephi.
After two years of famine, the people began to remember God [1] and the words of Nephi.
8 And the people began to plead with their chief judges and their leaders, that they would say unto Nephi: Behold, we know that thou art a man of God, and therefore cry unto the Lord our God that he turn away from us this famine, lest all the words which thou hast spoken concerning our destruction be fulfilled.
So the judges asked Nephi to ask God to stop starving the people to death.
9 And it came to pass that the judges did say unto Nephi, according to the words which had been desired. And it came to pass that when Nephi saw that the people had repented and did humble themselves in sackcloth, he cried again unto the Lord, saying:
And when Nephi saw the people humbling themselves in sackcloth, he cried out again to God, saying:
10 O Lord, behold this people repenteth; and they have swept away the band of Gadianton from amongst them insomuch that they have become extinct, and they have concealed their secret plans in the earth.
Oh Lord, the people have expelled Gaianton's band and have hidden their secret plans in the ground.
11 Now, O Lord, because of this their humility wilt thou turn away thine anger, and let thine anger be appeased in the destruction of those wicked men whom thou hast already destroyed.
You've killed enough wicked men [2] to satisfy your anger.
12 O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, yea, thy fierce anger, and cause that this famine may cease in this land.
It's time for you to stop starving people to death.
13 O Lord, wilt thou hearken unto me, and cause that it may be done according to my words, and send forth rain upon the face of the earth, that she may bring forth her fruit, and her grain in the season of grain.
So obey me and make it rain so people can eat again.
14 O Lord, thou didst hearken unto my words when I said, Let there be a famine, that the pestilence of the sword might cease; and I know that thou wilt, even at this time, hearken unto my words, for thou saidst that: If this people repent I will spare them.
15 Yea, O Lord, and thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine and the pestilence and destruction which has come unto them.
16 And now, O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, and try again if they will serve thee? And if so, O Lord, thou canst bless them according to thy words which thou hast said.
You obeyed me when I told you to create a famine.
Now obey me when I tell you to stop.
17And it came to pass that in the seventy and sixth year the Lord did turn away his anger from the people, and caused that rain should fall upon the earth, insomuch that it did bring forth her fruit in the season of her fruit. And it came to pass that it did bring forth her grain in the season of her grain.
So God obeyed Nephi and made it rain, stopping the three-year famine.
11:18-
18 And behold, the people did rejoice and glorify God, and the whole face of the land was filled with rejoicing; and they did no more seek to destroy Nephi, but they did esteem him as a great prophet, and a man of God, having great power and authority given unto him from God.
19 And behold, Lehi, his brother, was not a whit behind him as to things pertaining to righteousness.
The people rejoiced and quit trying to kill Nephi.
20 And thus it did come to pass that the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land, and began to build up their waste places, and began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east.
The people once again prospered and multiplied until they covered the land to the north and the south, from sea to shining sea.
21 And it came to pass that the seventy and sixth year did end in peace. And the seventy and seventh year began in peace; and the church did spread throughout the face of all the land; and the more part of the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, did belong to the church; and they did have exceedingly great peace in the land; and thus ended the seventy and seventh year.
There were two years of peace, with the church spreading throughout the land.
And most (or at least "the more part") of the Nephites and Lamanites belonged, once again, to the church.
22 And also they had peace in the seventy and eighth year, save it were a few contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets.
But then trouble brewed again.
23 And in the seventy and ninth year there began to be much strife. But it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi, and many of their brethren who knew concerning the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, therefore they did preach unto the people, insomuch that they did put an end to their strife in that same year.
At first it was just a little contention, here or there, about this or that point of doctrine.
A year or so later, however, there was much strife, which Nephi and Lehi put an end to, with the many revelations that they received each day from God.
24 And it came to pass that in the eightieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, there were a certain number of the dissenters from the people of Nephi, who had some years before gone over unto the Lamanites, and taken upon themselves the name of Lamanites, and also a certain number who were real descendants of the Lamanites, being stirred up to anger by them, or by those dissenters, therefore they commenced a war with their brethren.
And yet, despite the daily revelations, dissent grew in the land.
Some of the dissenters were Nephites who joined the Lamanites and began to call themselves Lamanites.
These dissenters stirred up the "real Lamanites" to go to war with the Nephites.
25 And they did commit murder and plunder; and then they would retreat back into the mountains, and into the wilderness and secret places, hiding themselves that they could not be discovered, receiving daily an addition to their numbers, inasmuch as there were dissenters that went forth unto them.
The Lamanites murdered and plundered, and then retreated to their secret places.
26 And thus in time, yea, even in the space of not many years, they became an exceedingly great band of robbers; and they did search out all the secret plans of Gadianton; and thus they became robbers of Gadianton.
27 Now behold, these robbers did make great havoc, yea, even great destruction among the people of Nephi, and also among the people of the Lamanites.
They dug up the secret plans of Gadianton (which had been buried in the ground) and became an exceedingly great band of robbers -- the robbers of Gadianton.
11:18-
28 And it came to pass that it was expedient that there should be a stop put to this work of destruction; therefore they sent an army of strong men into the wilderness and upon the mountains to search out this band of robbers, and to destroy them.
The Nephites decided it was time to put a stop to this.
So they sent an army of strong men into the wilderness to kill the robbers.
29 But behold, it came to pass that in that same year they were driven back even into their own lands. And thus ended the eightieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
But the robbers drove them back.
30 And it came to pass in the commencement of the eighty and first year they did go forth again against this band of robbers, and did destroy many; and they were also visited with much destruction.
31 And they were again obliged to return out of the wilderness and out of the mountains unto their own lands, because of the exceeding greatness of the numbers of those robbers who infested the mountains and the wilderness.
So the Nephites went forth again, and this time they killed many robbers, but many Nephites were also killed.
32 And it came to pass that thus ended this year. And the robbers did still increase and wax strong, insomuch that they did defy the whole armies of the Nephites, and also of the Lamanites; and they did cause great fear to come unto the people upon all the face of the land.
33 Yea, for they did visit many parts of the land, and did do great destruction unto them; yea, did kill many, and did carry away others captive into the wilderness, yea, and more especially their women and their children.
The Nephites sent out another army, but they were defied by the robbers who had waxed strong.
There was great fear among the people, as the robbers robbed, killed, and plundered, while carrying away the Nephite women and children.
34 Now this great evil, which came unto the people because of their iniquity, did stir them up again in remembrance of the Lord their God.
35 And thus ended the eighty and first year of the reign of the judges.
36 And in the eighty and second year they began again to forget the Lord their God. And in the eighty and third year they began to wax strong in iniquity. And in the eighty and fourth year they did not mend their ways.
Now all of these evils--the famine and the wars--were sent by God to punish the people for being evil.
And it worked, sort of, anyway.
The people got all stirred up in remembrance of the Lord, but they soon forgot him again, and waxed stronger and stronger in their iniquity, pride, and wickedness.
37 And it came to pass in the eighty and fifth year they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction.
They were ripening again for destruction.
Notes
