Nephi Asks for a Drought to Begin, and to End

By 20 BC, the Nephites were fighting with one another throughout all their lands, and it was the secret band of robbers who were responsible for this destruction and wickedness.

Their wars continued throughout 19 BC. In that year Nephi prayed, “Oh Lord, do not allow this people to destroy themselves by the sword. Instead, let there be a drought to stir them to remember Thee, and perhaps they will repent and return to Thee.”

Then there was a great drought in the land among all the Nephites. It continued throughout 18 BC, forcing the Nephites to stop fighting. During 17 BC, the third year of drought, no grain could be grown by the Nephites or Lamanites. And in the more wicked parts of the land, thousands of people died of starvation. When the people realized that they were all about to die of starvation, they began to remember the Lord their God by remembering Nephi’s words. They begged their chief judges and leaders to tell Nephi, “We know you are a man of God, so pray to the Lord our God to end this drought, or else everything you have said about our destruction will happen.”

The judges asked Nephi to pray for the people. Seeing the people humble themselves and repent, Nephi prayed, “Look how this people repent, oh Lord. They have destroyed Gadianton’s band and have buried the band’s secret plans in the earth. Now, oh Lord, because of their humility, please turn away Thine anger, and let it be appeased by the destruction of those wicked men who have already died. Oh Lord, will Thou turn away Thy fierce anger and end this drought? Oh Lord, will Thou hear me and do according to my words, sending rain so that the earth may bring forth her fruit and grain again? Oh Lord, Thou did listen to my words when I said, ‘Let there be a drought.’ I know that Thou will hear my words now, for Thou said, ‘If these people repent, I will spare them.’ Thou sees that they have repented because of the drought, pestilence, and destruction that has come to them. And now, oh Lord, will Thou turn away Thine anger and see if they will serve Thee again? If they do serve Thee, oh Lord, Thou can bless them according to Thy words.”

By 16 BC, the Lord had turned away His anger from the people. He caused rain to fall, and the earth brought forth her fruit and grain once again. The people rejoiced, glorifying God, and they stopped trying to destroy Nephi. They considered him to be a great prophet, a man of God, with great power and authority given to him from God. And Nephi’s brother, Lehi, was just as righteous.

The Nephites started to prosper in the land again and rebuilt their cities. They multiplied and spread out, covering the whole face of the land from the north to the south, and from the western to the eastern seas. Throughout the year 16 BC, there was peace. 15 BC was also a peaceful year, and the church spread throughout the land. Most of the people, both Nephites and Lamanites, belonged to the church and enjoyed great peace. The year 14 BC was also peaceful, except for a few disagreements about some of the doctrine given by the prophets.

In 13 BC, there was much debating and arguing over church doctrine. But Nephi, Lehi and many of their brethren who knew the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, preached to the people. Because of their preaching, many arguments were ended.

However, by 12 BC, there were many Nephite dissenters, who called themselves Lamanites. They persuaded the Lamanites to attack the Nephites. The Lamanites and the dissenters came out of their hiding places to murder and plunder and then retreated back into the mountains, the wilderness, and secret places. Each day their numbers grew as more Nephite dissenters joined them. In only a few years there was again a large band of robbers. They studied all the secret plans of Gadianton in order to become Gadianton robbers. These robbers brought havoc and destruction among the Nephites and Lamanites.

Soon it became critical to destroy these robbers, and a strong army was sent into the wilderness and mountains to search for and destroy the robbers, but the army was driven back into their own lands. This is how 12 BC ended—the eightieth year of the judges’ reign over the Nephites.

In the beginning of 11 BC, the army again went out against this band of robbers, killing many of them, but not without great losses of their own. They were forced to retreat out of the wilderness and mountains, for there were too many robbers there. By the end of the year, the robbers were so numerous and strong that they resisted the entire combined Nephite and Lamanite armies. They continued to terrorize all the people in the land. They destroyed cities, killed many people, and carried away many women and children into the wilderness.

This great evil had come upon the people because of their sins, and again they were stirred to remember the Lord their God. As 11 BC ended, they were beginning to remember Him, but just a year later they started to forget their God again. In 10 and 9 BC, they were very sinful, with no desire to repent. By 7 BC, their pride and wickedness had grown stronger than ever, and they were once again ripening for destruction by the end of that year.