Mosiah 20

It regularly happened that young Lamanite women gathered to sing and dance together in a place called Shemlon. One such day, King Noah’s renegade priests discovered them and secretly watched their merriment. Because they were ashamed of themselves and were justifiably afraid of being killed by the angry people if they returned to their families in the city, they roamed the woods as fugitives. Because they had no female company in their exile, the priests decided to abduct the women and carry them into the wilderness with them.

When the angry Lamanites discovered that 24 young women were missing, they assumed that the blame lay with King Limhi and his people, so the Lamanite King sent his army to destroy the kingdom. King Limhi saw the preparations for war, from his tower, and set up an ambush for them.

When the Lamanites arrived at the place of ambush, the Nephites emerged from their hiding places and attacked. The Lamanites had twice as many warriors, but the Nephites fought like dragons for the lives of their wives and children and drove the Lamanites back.

Among the fallen Lamanites, the Nephites found the wounded Lamanite king. He had been left behind by his fleeing warriors. They tied him up and brought him to King Limhi. “Why have you started a war between us?” King Limhi asked. “We have honorably kept all of our promises to you. Why do you break your promises to us?”

“Because your people have stolen our women,” the Lamanite king replied.

King Limhi was perplexed, because he knew nothing of this. “I will get to the root of this,” he said. “If any among us have done as you say, I will have them killed.”

Gideon, the king’s captain, said he didn’t believe that the people of the kingdom were responsible. He reminded the king of the outcast priests still out roaming in the wilderness. “We must tell the Lamanite king about this,” King Limhi responded, “before their armies return and destroy us. If we cannot make peace with them, we will be defeated by their huge numerical advantage. It is as Abinadi foretold. All of this is happening because we wouldn’t obey God’s laws and abandon our sinful lives. Let’s go talk to the Lamanite king, because it is better to keep our promises and live under him in slavery than to die. Let’s put an end to this bloodshed.”

When they told the Lamanite king about King Noah’s renegade priests and of their innocence in the abduction of the women, the Lamanite king agreed to persuade his people to accept a peace treaty. “If you and your people come out with me unarmed, to meet my army, I swear that I will not kill you,” he said. When they did this, the Lamanite warriors had compassion and peacefully disbanded their war party without incident.