The Book Of Helaman (Chap. 4)

Helaman 4:1
And it came to pass in the fifty and fourth year there were
many dissensions in the church, and there was also a contention
among the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed.

Helaman 4:2
And the rebellious part were slain and driven out of the land,
and they did go unto the king of the Lamanites.

Helaman 4:3
And it came to pass that they did endeavor to stir up the
Lamanites to war against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites
were exceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to
the words of those dissenters.

Helaman 4:4
But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign
of the judges, there were dissenters who went up from the
Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others
in stirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were
all that year preparing for war.

Helaman 4:5
And in the fifty and seventh year they did come down against
the Nephites to battle, and they did commence the work of death;
yea, insomuch that in the fifty and eighth year of the reign of
the judges they succeeded in obtaining possession of the land of
Zarahemla; yea, and also all the lands, even unto the land which
was near the land Bountiful.

Helaman 4:6
And the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven even
into the land of Bountiful;

Helaman 4:7
And there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the
west sea, even unto the east; it being a day's journey for a
Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their
armies to defend their north country.

Helaman 4:8
And thus those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a
numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession
of the Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this
was done in the fifty and eighth and ninth years of the reign of
the judges.

Helaman 4:9
And it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of the
judges, Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many
parts of the land; yea, they regained many cities which had
fallen into the hands of the Lamanites.

Helaman 4:10
And it came to pass in the sixty and first year of the reign
of the judges they succeeded in regaining even the half of all
their possessions.

Helaman 4:11
Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter
which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for
their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea,
and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church
of God.

Helaman 4:12
And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of
their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression
to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding
their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren
upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying
the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering,
lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great
contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the
Lamanites—

Helaman 4:13
And because of this their great wickedness, and their
boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own
strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and
smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost
possession of almost all their lands.

Helaman 4:14
But behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the people
because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the
sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and
did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities,
and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their
sins.

Helaman 4:15
And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as
they did repent they did begin to prosper.

Helaman 4:16
For when Moronihah saw that they did repent he did venture to
lead them forth from place to place, and from city to city, even
until they had regained the one-half of their property and the
one-half of all their lands.

Helaman 4:17
And thus ended the sixty and first year of the reign of the
judges.

Helaman 4:18
And it came to pass in the sixty and second year of the reign
of the judges, that Moronihah could obtain no more possessions
over the Lamanites.

Helaman 4:19
Therefore they did abandon their design to obtain the
remainder of their lands, for so numerous were the Lamanites that
it became impossible for the Nephites to obtain more power over
them; therefore Moronihah did employ all his armies in
maintaining those parts which he had taken.

Helaman 4:20
And it came to pass, because of the greatness of the number
of the Lamanites the Nephites were in great fear, lest they
should be overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and
destroyed.

Helaman 4:21
Yea, they began to remember the prophecies of Alma, and also
the words of Mosiah; and they saw that they had been a
stiffnecked people, and that they had set at naught the
commandments of God.

Helaman 4:22
And that they had altered and trampled under their feet the
laws of Mosiah, or that which the Lord commanded him to give unto
the people; and they saw that their laws had become corrupted,
and that they had become a wicked people, insomuch that they were
wicked even like unto the Lamanites.

Helaman 4:23
And because of their iniquity the church had begun to
dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy
and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did
stare them in the face.

Helaman 4:24
And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their
brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no
more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the
Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—

Helaman 4:25
Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his
miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state
of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites
were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should
cleave unto the Lord their God, they must unavoidably perish.

Helaman 4:26
For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was
as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they
fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become
weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many
years.