Helaman Reports to Moroni

On the second day of 62 BC, Moroni received a letter from Helaman, informing him of the affairs of the people in the Zarahemla area. The letter read:

“My dearly beloved brother in the Lord (as well as in the tribulations of warfare, for we have also had our share of warfare in this part of the land). I will tell you about the 2,000 sons of the people that Ammon brought out of the land of Nephi, who as you know, are descendants of Laman, the oldest son of father Lehi.

“I do not need to tell you about the traditions and unbelief of the Lamanites, for you already know of them. I am writing to tell you about these 2,000 young men, who took up their weapons and made me their leader, and came to the defense of their country.

“You know about the covenant that their fathers made not to take up weapons against their brethren. Four years ago, in 66 BC, when their fathers saw the afflictions we were suffering on their behalf, they were about to break their covenant and take up weapons to defend us. But I would not let them do this, thinking that God would strengthen us and keep us from suffering too much.

“Then something happened that has given me great joy! I marched at the head of those 2,000 young men to the city of Judea to assist Antipus, whom you had appointed as the leader in that city. I joined my 2,000 sons (for they are worthy to be called sons) with Antipus’ army. This made Antipus very happy, for his army had been greatly reduced by the Lamanites, which gives us cause to mourn. Our only consolation is knowing that our men have died in the cause of their country and their God, and are now in a state of happiness.

“The Lamanites have taken many chief captains as prisoners, for they kill everyone else. If those prisoners are still alive, we think they are being held in the land of Nephi. These are the cities that the Lamanites have conquered by killing so many of our valiant men: Manti, Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah. When I arrived at Judea, these four cities had already been conquered, and I found Antipus and his men working with all their strength to fortify the city. They had become depressed in body and spirit, for they fought valiantly during the day and worked at night to maintain their cities. They had suffered greatly with every type of affliction. Antipus and his men were determined to hold out in Judea or die, so you can imagine how glad they were to see those sons of mine coming to their assistance.

“When the Lamanites saw that Antipus’ army had been reinforced, their leader, Ammoron, ordered his men not to attack Judea. This is how we were favored and spared by the Lord, for if they had attacked us then in our weakness, they might have destroyed our small army.

“Instead of attacking us, Ammoron commanded his Lamanite army to maintain the cities that they had already taken. By the end of 66 BC, we had completed our fortification of Judea, and we wanted the Lamanites to come against us. We had no desire to attack them in their strongholds. We kept our spies out to watch their movements so that they would not be able to pass by us during the day or night, and go northward to attack our other cities. We knew that our northern cities were not strong enough to withstand them. If they tried to pass near us, our plan was to attack them from behind while others met them in the front. We were disappointed not to have had the chance to do this.

“The Lamanites, fearing that they would not be strong enough against us out in the open, did not dare pass by us. Nor did they dare march out against the city of Zarahemla, or cross the Sidon River toward Nephihah. They were determined to use their forces to maintain the cities they had taken.”

“In the second month of this year, many provisions came to us from the fathers of my 2,000 sons. We also received an additional 2,000 men from Zarahemla. Now we had a total of 10,000 men and provisions for them and their wives and children.

“Seeing our forces and provisions increasing daily, the Lamanites began to be afraid, so they tried to cut off our supplies and reinforcements. When they began to do this, we knew the Lamanites were growing uneasy, so we planned a strategy. Antipus ordered me to march out with my young sons as if we were carrying supplies to a neighboring city.

“We were to pass by the conquered city of Antiparah pretending to be carrying supplies to the next city near the coast.

“After my little army left Judea and came near the city of Antiparah, Antipus and part of his army left Judea and followed us. Antiparah was where the strongest, most numerous Lamanite army was stationed. After their spies told them that we had passed nearby their city, carrying supplies, the entire Lamanite army came out after us, thinking they could easily kill us and take the supplies. We ran from them heading north, and led away the most powerful Lamanite army. By the time they saw Antipus following them, we had led them too far from Antiparah for them to return to it safely. So the Lamanite army chased us vigorously, marching in a straight course to catch and kill us before Antipus caught up to them, for they did not want to be surrounded.

“When Antipus saw our danger, he hurried his army. When night came, we camped, for the Lamanites had not caught up to us, nor had Antipus caught up to them. Before dawn, the Lamanites were coming after us. We were not strong enough to fight such a great army, nor would I allow my sons to be caught by them, so we quickly marched into the wilderness. The Lamanites did not turn to the left or the right, fearing that they would be surrounded. And I would not turn to the left or the right for fear of being overtaken. Again we marched until nightfall. And again, the next morning we saw the Lamanites coming closer to us, and we ran. They chased us for a short time and then stopped. This was the morning of the third day of the seventh month of the year.

“We did not know if Antipus had overtaken them or not, but I said to my men, ‘Maybe the Lamanites want us to attack them so that they can catch us in their snare. What do you say, my sons, will you go against them in battle?’

“My beloved brother, Moroni, I had never seen such great courage, even among the bravest Nephites.

Because I called them my sons (for they were all very young), they said to me, ‘Father, our God is with us, and He will not allow us to fall. Let us go to battle, for we would not kill our brothers if they would leave us alone. Let us go before they overpower Antipus and his army.’ They had never fought before, yet they did not fear death. They thought more of the liberty of their fathers than they did of their own lives. Their mothers had taught them that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. They repeated their mothers’ words to me and then said, ‘We do not doubt that our mothers know this.’

“I went against the Lamanites with my 2,000 young men. By then, the armies of Antipus had caught up to the Lamanites, and a terrible battle had begun. Because they had marched long and hard to catch up to the Lamanite army, the army of Antipus was tired, and they were about to be beaten. If my 2,000 young men and I had not come to their assistance, they would all have certainly been killed.

“Antipus and many of his leaders had already been killed, and without their leaders, the army had become confused. The Lamanites were boldly chasing them when we attacked the Lamanites from behind. We killed so many Lamanites so quickly that their entire army turned away from the army of Antipus and turned upon us. Then the army of Antipus came upon the Lamanites from behind and started to kill them. By surrounding and killing them quickly, we terrified the great Lamanite army so completely that they gave up their weapons and surrendered. Then I counted my young men who had fought with me, fearing that many of them had been killed. But to my great joy, not a single one of them had fallen! They had fought as if they had the strength of God! Never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength, frightening the enemy so completely. We had no place to guard our prisoners, so we sent them to the land of Zarahemla with some of Antipus’ men. Then we marched back to Judea.”