Helaman Ch14

Samuel predicts the appearance of a new star after three days of light to signal Christ's birth and also signs of his death with three days of darkness. He preaches of Christ and His redeeming power, baring a sincere testimony of our Savior.
Samuel the Lamanites prophecies more than has been recorded, but the main topic is the one of Christ, in which he plainly says that in 5 years He will be born and a new brightest star will appear after 3 days of no night to symbolize the light that He brings to the world to redeem all who will believe (v1-5). There will be other signs and wonders in heaven to amaze everyone, and all who believe in Christ shall have everlasting life (v6-8). The Lord has commanded Samuel to tell everyone about this news so they can repent and prepare for this time, but he realizes the people are angry because of the harshness of the words (v9-10).
No matter how hard to hear, the wicked need to hear that the Lord's judgements await and the only way to be redeemed of our sins is to repent and turn to Jesus Christ, believing in His power and ability to save us (v11-13). The way He is able to save us is through his death, which there will be signs for also, and by His death and resurrection, all mankind are redeemed from the first spiritual death after Adam and Eve fell from God's presence (v14-17). Not only are they all able to be with God, they have the responsibility to repent and choose for themselves to make themselves worthy or else suffer condemnation and brought down to a second death (v18-19).
The sign of Christ's death is a darkening of the sky for 3 days until He rise from the dead and along with darkness there will be many natural disasters destroying civilizations along with ghosts visiting many people (v20-25). All these storms and darkness happen during the 3 days with the visitation from those already dead to give no cause for unbelief among the people so they can be saved through their belief (v26-29). Everyone is free to believe what they want, and we are all given the power to know and choose good form evil so whatever we choose in life is what we will have restored to us in death (v30-31).

Helaman Ch13

Sweetness! The story of Samuel the Lamanite! He preaches for the next few chapters actually...he starts it off by warning of the Nephites destruction unless they repent. He tells them they are cursed for their wickedness and for some strange reason they get mad at him for it and attack him...weird right?
While the Nephites are having all this pride and wickedness, the Lamanites are continuing to observe the commandments of God, and one named Samuel was told by the Lord to go to preach to the Nephites again after he was rejected (v1-3). He got into the city Zarahemla and climbed a wall to start prophesying to the people about the justice of the Lord that is bound to fall upon them as a sword delivers destruction if the people do not repent (v4-6). He mentions being rejected before but coming back because the Lord told him to deliver the message of repentance or they will be cut off forever; it has been prophesied that 400 years from the Lord's coming, they Nephites will be utterly destroyed because of their iniquity (v7-10).
Any who do repent are blessed, but as a whole, Zarahemla is in trouble because there are more wicked, but soon enough the Lord will punish the people and spare the righteous when they are cast out from the city and then the Lord has no reason to withhold judgment (v11-14). In fact, its all the cities' wickedness that is causing the curse to be upon all the people that their riches are lost when they try to hide them because the Nephites are setting their hearts upon treasures and not the Lord who has blessed them with all they have (v15-23). The specific actions that the people have shown their wickedness is casting out or killing prophets even though they say they would never have cast out the prophets they read about in the scriptures if they had been there...such hypocrisy (v24-26).
They say they would listen to the prophets but they are only listening to the people who flatter them and let them do whatever they want which means they are literally choosing darkness rather than light and causing their land to be cursed (v27-30). Instead of blessing them, the Lord has made their riches fleeting and caused poverty which will provoke prayers, but they will be in vain because the punishment was brought by their own hands (v31-32). People will wish they had repented and not cast out the prophets because they are humbled from the curse of losing everything they put down (v33-36).
I think this curse that is put upon them is fascinating and makes me think about when I lose my keys or the TV remote, but maybe they are totally different kinds of losing things. Anyway, back to Sam's preaching, he continues to call out the people on their wickedness by saying they will eventually be humbled and regret not repenting when it is too late and they are surrounded by demons (v37). It is better not to procrastinate the day of repentance because the Lord's timeline is not known unto us and the only thing Sam can do is to pray for mercy from God upon the wicked (v38-39).

Helaman Ch12

This chapter is mainly Mormon's little 'penny for your thoughts' about the story he just finished recounting about the Nephites. He praises the Lord and shows that he understands the full extent of the power and ability of God. Then we are reminded about the fate we face if we do not repent of our iniquities during our time on earth.
Through the story of how the Nephites fell back into wickedness, we can see that the hearts of men are unstable and end up hardening their hearts right after the Lord has blessed them with safety and prosperity just because they are in comfort (v1-2). Sad part is that they don't humble themselves until the Lord chastens them because they are foolish and quick to have pride and slow to remember the Lord's blessings (v3-5). Man would rather not be governed by the one who knows all and has created them, they are literally the dust of the earth while God is so powerful His voice can cause earthquakes and move mountains whenever He feels like it (v6-17).
The Lord knows all the secrets of man, their hiding places, their flaws, and their secret works. If He wants, He can curse hidden treasures to never be found (kinda like the golden plates) as punishment or for His own reasons (v18-20). Those who do iniquity will be cut off from His presence and not be saved from eternal misery, that's why Nephi and all the other prophets preach repentance (v21-22)! Everyone could benefit from listening to the Lord's direction because it gives them the opportunity to be saved in the last day when we are all judged according to our works receiving either happiness or misery (v23-26).

Helaman Ch11

Nephi prays to replace war with famine and people die from hunger instead of war which cause people to repent and rain is brought again through prayer. Nephi and Lehi both receive many revelations while Gadianton robbers are entrenching themselves in the land. I'm doing another time line for this chapter by the way.
72-73:  Wars have increased to spread among all the people of Nephi mostly caused by the gadianton robbers (v1-2). Nephi prays to the Lord to stop the bloodshed and bring a famine to the people to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord (v3-4).
74-75: The famine starts and people stop fighting because of the lack of food, which also causes people to die by the thousands in the more wicked parts of the land (v5-6). People were scared to die and began to remember the Lord and desired that Nephi plead with God to save them (v7-9). Nephi knows the Gadiantons were extinct and asks the Lord to turn away his anger because of the humility among the Nephites by letting it rain again, and Nephi knows his prayers will be answered just like when he asked for famine because of his great faith and promise from the Lord for mercy (v10-14). He asks the Lord with humility to give the people another chance to serve the Lord (v15-16).
76-77: The rains come again to cause fruit and food to grow and the people rejoice in the blessings from heaven, and they also recognized Nephi and his brother, Lehi as true prophets who help spread the word of the church throughout the land (v17-21).
78-79: Contentions start again over certain doctrine and strife gradually grows even though Nephi and Lehi are preaching about the truth of those doctrines and spreading the word of God (v22-23).
80:  Dissenters who are calling themselves Lamanites start a war with the Lamanites to murder and plunder to get gain, and they also search for the old secrets of the Gadianton robbers to start that gang up again (v24-26). This newly formed gang tormented the Nephites and Lamanites, so they sent out an army to destroy the robbers, but they were unsuccessful (v27-29).
81: They go to attack the robbers again with some success but there were so many of the robbers in the wilderness that they only grew stronger hiding out in the mountains (v30-32). They kidnapped, plundered, destroyed towns, and tormented both the Nephites and Lamanites which helped the remembering of the Lord because of the awful trial the robbers were (V33-35).
82-85: In these three years, the people began again to forget the Lord and his power, waxing strong in pride and iniquity not even trying to repent (v36). By the end of the 85th year they were again ripened for destruction (v37-38).

Helaman Ch10

I have this feeling that this Nephi doesn't get as much credit as Nephi son of Lehi, just because he comes later in the book! I think Nephi 2.0 is a truly amazing prophet and this chapter shows that God things so as well because he is given the power to bind and loose on earth and in heaven.
After the fiasco with the trial over the murder of the chief judge, Nephi is still pretty depressed about the wickedness of the people and their constant fighting, so he heads home in a stupor of thought and is interrupted by the voice of God telling him he is blessed for all he has done to preach to the people (v1-4). The Lord tells him that he will always be blessed with power to do all things and have the constant presence of angels to watch over him as he uses his power to help him as he goes to declare the words of God to the people and bind or loose both things on earth and in heaven (v5-11). When Nephi had heard how the Lord has given him great power and a responsibility, he stopped going home and went back to the multitudes to declare the Lord's words and warn of destruction unless they repent (v12).
Even though he had proven his power by finding the judge's murderer, the people hardened their hearts when he came to tell them to repent of be smitten and tried to cast him into prison (v13-15). With the power of God, they were unable to imprison him and he went from multitude to multitude preaching the words of repentance to the Nephites for 3 years (v16-17). Unfortunately, no one listened and continued to contend and fight through the end of the 71st year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi (v18-19).

Helaman Ch9

This chapter is all about how Nephi's claims are proven right and he is accepted as a prophet.
After the statement about the death of the chief judge, 5 guys went to check it out because they wanted to know for sure Nephi is a prophet, and they found the judge dead in a pool of his own blood which is when they basically fainted from surprize and belief (v1-5). At this point, a group of people who were gathered by the servants of the chief judge, who had found him dead first and spread the word, showed up and saw the on the floor and assumed they killed the judge because they didn't know about Nephi's preaching (v6-9). They cuffed them and told everyone the news so that the next day there were people mourning the slain judge, including others from Nephi's preaching who started asking about the 5 guys they had sent to check things out because there were coincidentally 5 accused men (v10-12).
The judges brought forth the 5 to hear their story about what happened in which they say, "We didn't do it, and we don't know who did, but that Nephi guy sent us so ask him" (v13-15). This made the judge think that Nephi might have conspired with someone to make himself look all smart and prophet-like, but the 5 defended Nephi, being believers now, and then judges had people go collect Nephi to be questioned (v16-19). They start the questioning with a bribe if Nephi will tell them who is to blame, but Nephi starts preaching and pointing out how wicked and unjust they are by blaming him for conspiring to murder just because he knew of the death of the chief judge before anyone else (20-23).
Nephi continues his speech, showing how silly their anger is by telling them exactly what to do to catch the murderer red handed and guilty (v24-25):
       "1st, go to Seantum, brother of the slain chief Seezoram, and ask him if he's conspired with me because he'll say no (v26-28). Then ask him if he murdered his brother, and watch as he stands in fear and denies it with fake astonishment (v29-30). Don't worry about that because for some reason he's still wearing the cloths he murdered his brother in, so check his cloak and ask him about the blood you find because he'll start getting really scared which is when you will know he is definitely guilty and he'll confess (v31-36). He'll even say in his confession that I am completely innocent and only know what I know with the power of God (v37)."
After the people go and do exactly as Nephi told them and it happen exactly as Nephi had said, he was freed along with the 5 guys, and through this whole experience people got different opinions (v38-39). Some though Nephi was a prophet like he claimed, while others were convinced he was a God because of the ability to read minds he displayed (v40-41).

Helaman Ch8

The judges seek to stop pit the people against Nephi in order to keep their power, but Nephi uses the prophets of old to testify of Christ as our Savior. Then Nephi proves his power by announcing the murder of the chief judge!
In the multitude that was listening to Nephi's preachings from the previous chapter were some of the judges that were corrupt, so naturally they were kind of upset that Nephi was calling them out and tried to convince the people to get angry at him for disobeying the laws (v1-4). They didn't want to get their hands dirty though and only spake words to stir some of the people up to be angry, while others defended Nephi because they realized he is a prophet and they need to repent (v5-9). All the angry crowd members were too worried about their popularity with those who supported Nephi to do anything, so Nephi starts to speak again to those who had defended him (v10).
He starts his preaching with examples from prophets and ancestors of the Nephites that yielded the power of God to show that His hand is in all things (v11-12). He calls the people out for ignoring the words of the prophets of the present and of old by forgetting the power that they has such as Moses with the brazen serpent that healed those who looking in faith (v13-15). Moses and Nephi aren't the only ones who testify of Christ, there was also Abraham, Zenos, Zenock, Exias, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, not all that we know, but ones that the Nephites knew because they were in the records they had been reading when they were in church (v16-20).
Nephi is calling these prophets names out to help the people remember their words and know that the words he speaks now have been spoken by all the prophets that are respected (v21-22). The main message behind all of these prophets' words is of Christ and His coming that everyone must prepare for by repenting, humbling themselves, and forsaking the sins they have been committing (v23-24). Because this people have been worried more about earthly treasures instead of heavenly treasures and have sinned to get rich, they are ripened for everlasting destruction which might come any day now (v25-26). I love the line I imagine Nephi saying as he closes his preaching, "I know that the time for your destruction is coming soon, how do I know? Because God told me. He also told me that your Chief Judge was murdered by his brother who wants the job. Oh, and P.S. they are apart of the Gadianton robbers, who are bad guys" (v27-28).

Helaman Ch7

The next section of chapters includes 7-16 and is all about Nephi's prophecies and journeyings including the warnings to the Nephites from God before He smites them with pestilence so they repent. Then we hear about Samuel, the Lamanite, who prophesies to the Nephites. Nephi first goes to the north to preach but is rejected so he prays on a tower for the people calling for repentance.
Nephi comes back from a mission trip from the northlands to Zarahemla because the people there rejected his preachings (v1-3). When he gets back home, he sees how Gadianton robbers now fill the judgement-seat and the people are awfully wicked which mad him pretty sad, so he exclaims that he wishes he was from the time of the first Nephi so he could rejoice at the blessing of being delivered to the promised land (v4-8). He goes on to say that he knows he cant change his station, so he climbs a tower and begins to pray with all his soul to God while people passed by and listened to his mourning for the people because of their wickedness (v9-11).
Some people who heard went and told others so there was a multitude of people by the time Nephi finishes his prayer and he asks why they are all there to hear about how he is sad for the iniquities of this people (v12-15). He then starts to plead with the people to repent and no longer let their souls be taken to everlasting misery, but harken to the voice of the good shepherd and remember the Lord is the one who has delivered them so many times (v16-20). The reason people don't humble themselves is because of pride and desire for worldly riches, but that will only bring misery especially if everyone in the city is wicked (v21-22). The Lord will not strengthen the wicked to fight their enemies, but He will show the wicked His strength by humbling them.
It would be better for people who had not had a previous knowledge of all the truths to die and be judged because they have sinned in ignorance, but for the Nephites that Nephi is talking to, they would be judged harshly (v23-24). Nephi closes his preachings to the gathered Nephites by saying they are in trouble because of their great abomination, pride, and wickedness throughout all the people (v25-27). It is necessary for them to repent or they run the risk of being destroyed off the face of the earth and Nephi knows this because he was sent by God to testify of them (v28-29).

Helaman Ch6

The tables have turned and the Lamanites are more righteous than the Nephites. There is a time that both people are prosperous because of the peace between them as they preach the work of God. Underneath the peacefulness is the plans of Lucifer who guides the Gadianton robbers to murder and take over the Nephite government.
During the start of the 63rd year, there are more Lamanites that are righteous than there are Nephites because the Nephites are impenitent and reject the word while the Lamanites were being converted and fellowshipping one another (v1-3). The Lamanites bore their conversion testimonies to the Nephites in an effort to convince them to humble themselves, and others traveled northward to preach to the people there (v4-6). At this time there were no wars between the Lamanites and Nephites, instead they traded and mingled becoming rich from some of the newly found materials in the explored lands (v7-11).
Both nations worked together and flourished in numbers and riches through the 66th year when Cezoram, the chief judge, was murdered by an unknown hand as well as his successor, his son (v12-15). The wickedness grew again in the 67th year because of the people being greedy after being blessed so abundantly by the Lord (v16-17). Many people began to get gain by murdering and stealing, they were the Gadianton robbers amongst both nations but mostly in the Lamanites (v18-19).
When the Lamanites found out about the gang of robbers and murderers, they used every means they had to destroy them, but Satan was able to stir up some of the Nephites to join their gang and unite under oaths of loyalty (v20-21). They communicated in secret with special handshakes and signals like gangs use today with clothing so they could stand up for their fellow evil brothers to break laws and get away with it (v22-23). So deep was the corruption that when someone from the Gadianton was tried they weren't judged according to the laws of the land, but the laws set up through Gadianton and Kishkumen by Lucifer (v24-25).
This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened, there was the first occurrence with Cain and Abel, the people that built the tower of Babel, and now again with these Gadianton robbers (v26-29). These authors of evil did not come up with their wicked ways alone, they were inspired by the author of all sin, and given the works of darkness after getting hold of the hearts of men (v30-31). Once touched by iniquity, they turned away from righteousness and were selfish, only desiring to better their riches, much to the distress of the righteous (v32-33).
That band of evil was growing among the Nephites in the 67th and 68th year, while the Lamanites grew in righteousness and strength through the spirit of the Lord (v34-36). The Lord happily started to pour blessing to the Lamanites and encouraged their hunt to destroy the Gadiantons among them (v37). While they were exiled from the Lamanites, they grew among the Nephites and gained control in their government, and started to encourage wickedness and ignore the poor and church members (v38-39). This wickedness means they are rip for destruction ready to be smitten by the hand of God (v40-41).

Helaman Ch5

Just like Alma did so long ago when he quit his job to full time preach, Nephi and Lehi do the same in this chapter and preach about Christ to the people. They convert many but also suffer trials such as being imprisoned and encircled by fire, but are saved because a voice tells the people to repent and the fire encircles everyone in the multitude.
This year 62 was pretty important because this whole chapter is devoted to it, but it's true because Nephi gives up his job as the chief judge to Cezoram to be a full time church leader because the people were starting to be majorly wicked (v1-2). Which means that the majority of the people would rather choose evil than righteous, and this caused Nephi to worry about the welfare of the entire Nephite people and take up the task of preaching with his brother Lehi (v3-5). They are inspired by the words of their father, Helaman, to remember their Lord in v6-12, and that goes a little something like this:
     "My dearest sons, I want you to remember to keep the commandments and declare his words to our people. I named you after our ancestors who came out of Jerusalem because I want you to remember what they have done for us in bringing us here and keep records of the miracles. Please though, do not boast of yourselves for these things, but think only of doing so to bring yourself eternal happiness which does not fade away. Do you remember King Benjamin? He spoke of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ who shall come and redeem the world, which is the only way to be saved.
      "There was also the words of Amulek that spoke of the redeeming of sins by the power of the Lord with power given to him by the Father. These words that have been recorded are written for us so that we may remember them always and know that we must repent so the Redeemer can lead our souls to salvation. He is our rock and we must build our foundation on Him so it is sturdy through the storms and mighty winds that are sent by satan during life."
Of course this wasn't all Helaman taught his sons, but others weren't written, but these teachings helped Nephi and Lehi to remember to keep the commandments and desire to preach to the people in Bountiful, Gid, Mulek, and many more cities (v13-16). As they went, even among the Lamanites, they preached with power and confounded many dissenters who saw the error of their ways and repented, as well as converting 8,000 Lamanites who were inhabiting Zarahemla before moving on the land of Nephi (v17-20). They were captured by some Lamanites and put into prison which had once held previous missionaries, you might remember, Ammon and his brethren (v21).
They suffered in the prison for a while but as the Lamanites came to slay them, Nephi and Lehi were surrounded by a protection of fire that prevented them from being hurt or even burned (v22-23). This pillar of fire gave them the opportunity to preach to their captors and testify of the reality of God who is showing his power through fire and then an earthquake that brought darkness (v24-28). Then the Lord's voice came through the darkness to tell everyone to repent, stop trying to kill His servants, and to go tell everyone about it (v29). This voice had not yelled or been loud, but it pierced even to the very soul and the earth continued to shake as He said again to repent and work to help the kingdom of heaven, then spoke a third time things that we don't even know (v30-33).
The Lamanites couldn't flee because it was still pretty dark and they were pretty scared, but one guy who had once been a Nephite said he saw the faces of Nephi and Lehi shining like angels through the darkness talking to some unseen being (v34-36). Aminadab was his name, and he told everyone else to look and witness the same and said that they are conversing with the angels of God (v37-39). The group of Lamanites asks what they should do, and the only logically answer to that is to repent and have faith, so they all started praying for forgiveness until the darkness left (v37-42).
When the darkness cleared, they saw that the fire around them remained but they were still not hurt which symbolizes their being cleansed which allowed the gift of the Holy Spirit to enter into their hearts telling them to have peace (v43-47). Then the group of 300 had the chance to visit with angels from heaven and told to go forth to tell the world the message they had received into their hearts (v48-50). All of the laid down their weapons of war, gave the land back to the Nephites, and preached the truths they had learned through this experience (v51-52).

Helaman Ch4

Warning, this is a very depressing chapter because of the wickedness of the Nephites causing them to lose to the some battles against the Lamanites. This also causes the church to dwindle and the people to become weak like the Lamanites. I liked the yearly timeline idea from last time, and this chapter has about 8 years passing so I'm going to break it up by year again.
54-55: There are a lot of contentions going on both within the church and without that caused fights to the point of bloodshed where rebellious people were driven out to live with the Lamanites (v1-2). As they were living there, they just stirred up the Lamanites trying to get them to fight, but they couldn't because they were a little scared from their previous encounters (v3).
56-59: The Lamanites are convinced to start to prepare for battle and begin to attack in the 57th year and eventually take over the land of Zarahemla in the 58th year (v4-5). Moronihah and the armies were driven into the land Bountiful and started fortifying, but the dissenters of the Nephites were successful in their taking over of the land and possessions of the Nephites (v6-8).
60-61: I guess after the awesome retelling of every specific battle and strategy of the war in which Captain Moroni was leading the army it isn't as exciting to tell Moronihah's work because Mormon explains in only two verses that the Nephites take back half of what the Lamanites had won in two years (v9-10). It probably was a little more depressing so not as nice to recount because of the great loss of the Nephites due to their wickedness among them starting with pride within the members of the church and ending in so much more awful sins (v11-13). Moronihah preached unto the people, as well as Nephi and Lehi, about their imminent demise if they did not repent, and it totally worked because the people repented and began to prosper again (v14-16).
62: There was no progress in obtaining the land or possessions back from the Lamanites in this year which caused them to sort of give up and be scared about being destroyed (v17-20). This situation reminded them of the words of Alma and Mosiah about their stiffneckedness and how it would cause corruption in the church and the people to become spiritually weak as the Lamanites (v21-24). The words that had been taught were promises that if the people would keep the commandments they would be preserved, but because the people were not, they had fallen into great transgression (v25-26).

Helaman Ch3

More spreading of the Nephites during a time of peace, and many are converted and baptized to the church. Time passes quickly, like 10 years, in this chapter and we see Nephi the son of Helaman fill the judgment seat. With this chapter I am going to separate the events into years they happen.
43: There is peace and a little pride within the church but all the dissensions were settled by the end of the year (v1).
44-45: More peace and nothing major to report (v2).
46: There is so much contention that a bunch of people leave Zarahemla and went to settle in any land in the north that wasn't desolate from previous tenants who used up all the timber in that part (v3-6). Because there weren't trees to use, the people who moved there became really good at building houses with cement and spread far enough to cover the whole continent believing in letting trees grow in their part of the land and being a part of shipping and trade to get more (v7-10).
*Side track* They became industrious and built many cities out of wood and cement and became like a whole new people keeping their own records and having their own conflicts separate from the Nephites and Lamanites, and we don't know exactly what happened in our day because we don't have their records (v11-14). The records that Mormon has are of the Nephites and have been handed down and been preserved through the will of God (v15-16). Now all that didn't happen only in the 46th year, but Mormon wanted to let you know what happened to the people that separated before just leaving a cliffhanger, how considerate (v17-18).
47-48: There was a bunch of people that left but the contentions continued and Helaman observed the statutes and laws according to the commandments of God, and he taught his sons, Nephi and Lehi, how to grow in the gospel (v19-21). I'm sure having a busy job didn't give Helaman a lot of time to be a high priest, but when his sons helped him out there began to be peace (v22).
49-50: Now everyone is peaceful, publically...but there is still that secret band of robbers that Gadianton established (v23). This year brought great prosperity in the church and many joined the church that was being blessed so greatly that even the leaders in the church were surprised at the gate of heaven opening to all who believed in Christ (v24-28). All this happiness spread like wildfire and there was joy among the people for the blessings (v29-32).
51: Still good and happy times, but there is also a little pride entering in the hearts of the people of the church, not the church itself, but some of the members are caught persecuting the humble people (v33-34). But those people who suffered this were still faithful and waxed stronger in their humility and were firmer in the faith of Christ (v35).
52: Now the pride gets way worse because the church members are very prosperous because of all the blessing from before (v36).
53: Helaman passes away and is replaced as the chief judge by his eldest son, Nephi, who is a righteous man in the sight of the Lord (v37).

Helaman Ch2

Now that the three sons of Pahoran from the last chapter who all wanted to be chief judge are kind of out of the picture because of all the murdering and such we see that in this chapter, Helaman the younger becomes chief judge.The rise of the Gadiantons begins and Kishkumen is slain but the rest of the evil group runs into the wilderness to continue their evil workings.
Peace had been restored again so they had another election in the 42nd year where Helaman is elected to be the chief judge and is already plotted against by Kishkumen and his men under the direction of Gadianton, being a cunning and crafty man (v1-4). And that's crafty as in shady and secretive, so they led away many by promising wealth and power if they supported the plans to kill Helaman (v5). Luckily there was a spy in their midst who reported to Helaman about all the plan and was deep undercover earning their trust as a crucial member of the plan (v6-8).
Since he was close to Helman, being a personal servant, he was made to let Kishkumen into Helaman's house, but as he did so, he stabbed Kishkumen and told Helaman everything he knew about all the people who were a part of the secret organization (v9-10). Gadianton freaked when Kishkumen didn't return so he led everyone out of the city before they were caught by the men sent for them, and they were quick and sneaky enough to hide in a place to not be found (v11). This ended year 42 but isn't the end of Gadianton, its only the beginning, because he is the main cause for the entire destruction of the Nephites in the end, and Mormon is telling us that at the end of the entire record that Nephi started, the destruction is because of Gadianton robbers (v12-14).

Helaman Ch1

We are now entering the record of Helaman and his sons that contains more wars, contentions, and dissensions among the Nephites. We will witness a time where Lamanites become more righteous than the Nephites and are more blessed because of it. In this first chapter, there are some sketchy politics going on and a Lamanite attack.
The 40th year starts with the passing of Pahoran and an election being held to elect the new chief judge out of three of the sons of Pahoran; Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni (v1-4). The division among the people fell in favor of Pahoran when election time came and Pacumeni accepted his defeat respectfully and joined his brother to unit the people, but Paanchi and his supporters were upset and wanted to rise up in rebellion (v5-7). Before he could start a rebellion, he was condemned to death under the law for anyone seeking to destroy liberty, and I can only imagine how hard this was on Pahoran to be the chief judge that has to sentence his brother to death (v8).
The supporters still rose up in rebellion and hired a hitman by the name of Kiskumen to take Pahoran out, and he was quick and thorough enough to get away with it (v9-12). It does make me curious as to how the records have this knowledge...but that's answered in the next chapter so no worries! Pacumeni was appointed in Pahoran's stead by popular vote and the matter was mostly settled at the end of the year (v13). Now as the 41st year begins, the Lamanites came with a huge army led by Coriantumr (who was a dissenter from the Nephites), who was supported and appointed by the Lamanites king, Tubaloth, son of Ammoron (v14-17).
With all the government problems that the Nephites were having, they neglected keeping adequate guards around Zarahemla mostly because the Lamanites weren't known for coming all the way to Zarahemla being the capital and in the middle of the land (v18). That being said, Coriantumr was different than the previous Lamanite captains and led the army straight to the capital and took possession easily killing Pacumeni in the process (v19-21). After succeeding in that mission, Coriantumr got all cocky and went to take Bountiful before any Nephite army could be formed in that part of the land (v22-24).
Despite all the deaths of the Nephites, Moronihah, the new Nephite general, had a great advantage in encircling the Lamanite invaders by sending Lehi's army against them before they got to Bountiful, and meeting them as they tried to retreat (v25-30). During the battle, Coriantumr was slain and the soldiers were left surrounded and surrendered after a bloody battle (v31-32). Now, I don't think this was wise, but Moronihah lets the Lamanites leave after retaking Zarahemla (v33). Like seriously? They are just going to come back! But whatever, his choice, and thats how the year 41 ends (v34).

Alma Ch63

We are now at the concluding chapter of Alma and as Helaman is now passed away, the records pass down to a new spiritual leader. There also is many travels done by the Nephites, some go northward to spread and a group sails with Hagoth west. The the darn Lamanites attack out of nowhere but are defeated.
After Helaman died, the year 36 starts with the sacred plates being passed down to Shiblon who is a just, righteous man, he also happens to be one of the sons of Alma and Helaman's brother (v1-2). Moroni dies at the end of the 36th year, then the important events in the 37th year are when 5,400 men with families left Zarahemla to a land northward and Hagoth built a ship to explore the sea to the west (v3-5). In the 38th year, that ship returns and many more ships were built having many families set out northward never to be heard of again (v6-9).
Then in the 39th year Shiblon dies and because the last son of Alma, Corianton, left to go northward, the records were left to Helaman, the son of Helaman, with the responsibility of keeping them sacred from generation to generation (v10-13). Along with all the other Nephites leaving the land, there were dissenters that deserted to the Lamanites and started making them angry towards the Nephites again enough to come to war again (v14). Fortunately, the new military leader, Moronihah, drove them back to their own land and beat them bad which ends the 39th year (v15). And this is the end of the record of Alma, Helaman, and Shiblon (v17).

Alma Ch62

After hearing the bad news, Moroni rushes to Pahoran's aid and put to death all king-men who refuse to fight to defend the country. Nephihah is retaken by the Nephites and Lamanites are converted and join the people of Ammon. Teancum is again the one to slay the king of the Lamanites, but this time he must give up his own life to do so :( it is for a good cause though because the Lamanites are finally driven from the land and everything can return to peace. Helaman starts his ministry again and works hard to build up the church among the Nephites.

Moroni is happy that Pahoran is still righteous and wants to help in the war effort, so he rushes with some men to take his anger out on those who are traitors (v1-3). On the way he gathered more men and raised the standard of liberty in many cities on the way which inspired thousands to join the cause and take up swords in defense of their freedom (v4-5). When Moroni met up with Pahoran to fight the appointed king of the kin-men, Pachus, they battled and took out Pachus while everyone who had conspired with him were put to trial as Pahoran took his rightful place back on the judgement seat (v6-8). They were all sentenced with a choice to be enlisted, or die quickly (v9-10).

That is how the 30th year ended and when the 31st year starts, Moroni starts sending provisions to the armies of the Nephites and some reinforcements to Helaman and Lehi and Teancum to help fortify the land against the Lamanites (v11-13). Pahoran himself leads, with Moroni, an army to Nephihah to overthrow the Lamanites, and ends up meeting them on the way, slaying many and taking their provisions (v14-15). All the prisoners from that encounter are forced to swear not to come to battle again and are sent to live with the peaceful Ammonites (v16-17). The were still strong enough in numbers to go to Nephihah and camp around the Lamanites there until they came out to battle, but they were scared to come out, so Moroni sent spies in (v18-20).

Moroni had his army prepare to climb over the wall where there were not Lamanites, and by morning the Lamanites found an army in the city so they fled (v21-24). The army pursued and killed man, surrounded many others, and took prisoners without losing a single soldier (v25-26). Many of the Lamanites who had been forced to fight, wanted to be free and were allowed to join the Ammonites in peace working for their livelihood (v27-29).

So now the Lamanites are weakened, the Nephites have more soldiers because they've liberated many prisoners, and Moroni is ready to finish this, so he heads back toward Lehi and Teancum scaring off a Lamanite army on the way (v30-31). Moroni chases the army, that happened to be led by Ammoron himself, until they met up with Lehi and Teancum which traps the Lamanites in the middle against the sea (v32-34). Everyone who had marched all day was tired so nothing happened as night fell except Teancum, being the ninja he is, sneaks into the Lamanites camp (again) and kills the king (again), but does not do it quietly enough to prevent others from waking up and killing him (v35-36)

I don't know if you know this, but Teancum is an awesome guy and was a true friend to liberty. Moroni and Lehi knew this and mourned his death so as they marched on the Lamanites, they fought with great vigor and totally slaughtered them, thankfully that was the end of the great war and how the 31st year ended (v37-39). There has been a lot of murders, iniquity, and dissensions among the Nephites, but all in all, it was the prayers of the righteous that spared their destruction, but the result of such a long war is the hardening of both nations (v40-41). Moroni and Helaman fortifies anything that is exposed to the Lamanites and returns to Zarahemla because there is peace in the land they no longer have to be captains of any army, so they go back to their lives; Moroni retires, Helaman ministers, and Pahoran judges again (v42-44).

Its a good thing Helaman starts preaching again because they do need it from all the sin and wickedness, churches had been neglected and regulations that were needed had been forgotten, luckily that was all reestablished and the Nephites began to prosper again (v45-48). They were a humble and righteous people before the Lord, remembering his grace in delivering them from the Lamanites and continuing to pray and receive blessings (v49-51). That lasted and they prospered through year 35 in which Helaman passed away (v52).

Alma Ch61

We find out about the truth of why the government has been lacking in their duties to provide for the military! The king-men are a problem and are in league with the Lamanites because they seek power. Pahoran asks Moroni for any help he can offer to rid the inner government of wickedness.
After Moroni's strongly worded letter to Pahoran (more like a threat), he receives an answer that goes a little something like this (v1):
    "Hey Moroni, its Pahoran, I understand what you're going through man and it sucks, trust me, I get that, but we got some problems here too (v2-3). There have been some people rebelling and tried to remove me from the judgment seat by leading away the hearts of the people here (v4). It got so bad that I'm actually not in Zarahemla at the moment, I'm actually in Gideon hiding, but don't worry because I've already sent out word to everyone and people are coming to fight in defence of their country (v5-7). Those who have risen to the occasion are ready to fight the cowardly king-men who took over and elected a king, and guess what, they contacted the Lamanites to ally with them in order to have power if we are defeated (v8).
     "Now, to address your strongly worded letter, I'm not mad you threatened me, instead I'm so glad you feel the way you do because I know I do not seek for power like the king-men; all I want is to retain the judgment seat to help the cause of liberty (v9-12). The Lord wouldn't command us to fight for the sake of power so we fight to resist evil and have religious freedom (v13-14). Now that we are on the same page, HELP ME! Leave Lehi and Teancum in charge and come fight against the dissenters so we can have our capital Zarahemla back and put an end to their iniquity (v15-18).
    "I am truly glad you wrote, it was like an answer to my prayer of what to do about all this, and now I see that we do need to purge the inward vessel (v19-20). Send my regards to Lehi and Teancum and let us be brothers in the Lord with faith. ~Pahoran (v21).

Alma Ch60

Moroni has words with Pahoran about the lack of support the government is giving the war, and because of the wickedness, righteous people are slain. It takes great power and means from the Nephites to fight off the Lamanites, basically all that can do to win. Then Moroni threatens the government!
Yay another epistle to interpret! This one is from Moroni to Pahoran and the rest of the government:
    "Hey all you in charge, you're not doing your job very well. You were appointed to govern the affairs of the war and gather men, weapons, and provisions to support the armies as we fight with the Lamanites, but both Helaman's and my army have suffered from hunger, thirst, and fatigue (v1-3). This is unacceptable and for a long time I didn't complain but this has to stop because it is causing many Nephite deaths when they could have been prevented if they had the strength to stand and fight (v4-5).
     "All I want to know is why you have neglected your duties? Are you just sitting on your thrones in a thoughtless state of stupor while the war rages and kills many young men who have looked to you for protection (v6-8)? Our soldiers have fought with all their strength despite their lack of provisions because they support the cause of liberty and love their people enough to go into battle and defend their freedom (v9-10). Let me tell you something, God knows. He knows all your actions and neglect, and He has heard the cries of the people. If you think that you'll be delivered just because He is a merciful God, or those who have died were all just wicked, think again. God receives the righteous who have died because He allows them to be slain to bring judgment on the wicked which is you because you're lazy (v11-14).
    "Because of your lack of support, the Lamanites have gained power over us; don't you remember the stupid fight I had to come break up between the king-men and the freemen (v15-16)? Those king-men were seeking authority and caused much turmoil while the Lamanites attacked many cities and captured many Nephites making them suffer, but was that just the king-men's desire or do you desire authority too (v17-18)? It could be that, or it could be that you don't think we are all in trouble because your cooped up in a safe place and don't realize our hardship (v19). You've either forgotten the captivity of our fathers or you suppose the Lord is just going to deliver us without any effort like he has in the past (v20-21).
     "Either way there is no excuse for your idleness. Hear me when I say that God will not look upon you as guiltless because He has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first (v22-23). Think on that because you must repent and start supporting the armies with supplies because we cannot continue to fight the armies of the Lamanites with no support (v24). That being the case, I'm giving you an ultimatum. You either start helping or I'm going to leave my army to come down there and extinguish the desire for authority among you so that you can focus on wanting to gain freedom for the people (v25-27).
     "Let me be very clear, I'm not afraid of you or what you could have done to me with your authority. I answer to God and God only. It is for Him I fight and if it so be that I must fight you to bring to pass the freedom of this people, I won't hesitate because He straight up told me to take you down if you can't repent of your iniquities (v28-33). I'm going to give you a little while to get your act together so the Lord will once again turn his judgment against the Lamanites, that being said, if you don't send some help quick, I'm going to come take it by force (v34-35).
      "I'm the chief captain but I do not seek for power, but to pull it down. I glory in God, freedom, and the welfare of my people. ~Moroni"
I hope you can sense the anger and threats coming from Moroni because he is ticked off! We will hear the response in next chapter and you might be surprised.

Alma Ch59

Now we go back to what is going on in Moroni's side of the battle which include him trying to send help to Helaman and him getting angry at the government. Also on the war side of the spectrum is the Lamanites taking the city of Nephihah.
Moroni was so excited to hear about the great successes of Helaman and started telling everyone so they knew how great things were going, probably in an attempt to keep moral up and such (v1-2). Then he asks Pahoran, who is the chief judge, to gather men to help Helaman maintain what he so skillfully reconquered while getting ready to finish taking back cities in his part of the land (v3-4). While he was preparing though, Nephihah is attacked and overcome by those same Lamanites that had fled from Manti, and they caused the army that had been there to flee to Moroni's army (v5-8).
Moroni knew that it is easier to keep a city from being conquered than it is to retake it from the Lamanites but Nephihah was lost and that made him sad and in a bad mood (v9-11). It was definitely not a good time to mess with him, which is why he got angry at the government for not caring about the liberty of the people enough to send some help (v12-13). Its unfortunate that the captains could already start to see the wickedness among the Nephites and start to doubt their ability to fight against their enemies.

Alma Ch58

More Nephite victories through stratagem cause Lamanites to withdraw in this chapter, along with another miraculous story about the sons of the Ammonites. And this is also a continuation of Helman's letter to Moroni, yup still not done:
     "So after retaking Cumeni, I set my sights on Manti, but we couldn't use the same tricks as before because they were expecting it (v1). We also couldn't attack them straight on because we weren't that strong, so I planned to wait for reinforcements (v2-3). So we waited, and waited, and received some provisions while the Lamanites attacked every once in a while trying to weaken us (v4-6). This waiting game lasted many months and we never knew why help was not being sent, but we constantly prayed for strength and comfort until a party of 2,000 men came with provisions which we were grateful for (v7-12).
    "We marched against the Lamanites at Manti, but they saw us coming and saw that they were stronger so they came to battle instead of letting us surround them (v13-15). I had Gid's men hide in the wilderness on the right and Teomner's men hide in the wilderness on the left while I stayed in the middle to bait the Lamanites to come into the wilderness away from their city (v16-19). Gid and Teomner then went to the city to attack and take possession while I let the Lamanites towards Zarahemla, so they stopped and started back to the city but took the night resting (v20-24).
     "I assume he thought we were tired from marching all day but even if we were, we marched towards Manti anyway so we could beat the Lamanites there and join the rest of the army at the city which scared the Lamanites away when they realized they lost the city (v25-30). With that city back, we had taken back all the cities in this part of the land and now have Nephite families coming back home and we stay to protect as best we can without back up from the government (v31-36). Honestly, it doesn't matter if any are sent because God will protect us, and I know this because these sons of the people of Ammon are so faithful and steadfast in keeping the commandments, the Lord will continue to bless them (v37-41)."

Alma Ch57

So the story isn't over from the last chapter so I'll give a short recap: Helman is now leading an army of strong and faithful young men helping the Nephites take back some cities from the Lamanites. So far they have beat one of the more powerful armies of the Lamanites and taken prisoners. So in this chapter, Helman tells Moroni of how they took back Antiparah and Cumeni while still not loosing any of his young soldiers, but at the same time, Gid has some bad news about the prisoners.
So I'm going to continue my interpretation of Helman's letter to Moroni:
      "Hey Moroni! So Ammoron tried to bargain with me for the Lamanite prisoners but I was pretty sure we could take the city they offered as a trade without too much trouble so I told him to get lost unless he was cool with trading prisoners for prisoners (v1-2). He's stubborn, you know that, so he refused and we got the city with no problem because all the people ran away as we were preparing to fight at the end of last year (v3-5). So when this year started, we got a nice present for provisions with reinforcements, there was 6,000 from Zarahemla and 60 of them were more Ammonites joining their brothers (v6).
       "With all these provisions and reinforcements we were able to cut of the supply of food to the Lamanites in Cumeni and defend ourselves from being attacked in the night by them by just camping around the city and taking their provisions (v7-10). All these supplies we were stealing we wanted to send to support others, but it was only a few days before the Lamanites gave up and became prisoners, like a lot of prisoners, like so many we couldn't keep guard over them all, so we killed whoever tried to fight in anyway, about 2,000 in the end (v11-14). We ended up just sending them to Zarahemla with part of our army to escort them, but the mission failed...
       "The day after they left they came back because there was a Lamanites army chasing them and my young warriors fought desperately and held firm before the Lamanites regardless of how many Lamanites there were (v15-20). I believe their courage and strength came from obeying commands with exactness, and if I do say so myself, they were the reason we won even though we suffered great loss that battle (v21-23). But again, I tell you that I am convinced that the faithfulness of their mothers is saving their lives because not a single one of the 2,060 was dead, sure there were 200 fainted from blood loss and everyone was wounded in some way, but they all were preserved by the power of God (v24-27).
        "So after the craziness stopped, Gid reported back with what happened with the prisoners. He says that on his way, his spies saw the Lamanites coming for the city of Cumeni and told him, but the Lamanites overheard and got all rebellious and there were just too many of them (v28-33). Gid said more than half were slain, but some fled to join the Lamanites army as it came towards Cumeni, so their last choice was to flee and warn us to prepare for them (v34). Good thing he did too because we would have been caught by surprise and might not have made it, The Lord has shown us mercy and blessed us with deliverance and success (v35)."
Moroni is all sorts of ecstatic to hear about the successes and blessings of God to his fellow Nephites. He also prays for the souls that have passed to have rest with God (v36).

Alma Ch56

Guess who reappears :D the stripling warriors! After Helman sends an update on the war in his part of the land to Moroni, he leads the stripling warriors to a miraculous victory with the help of Antipus.
So Helman writes to Moroni about what's going down (v1):
    "Hey Moroni, so you remember those Lamanites that Ammon converted and now live under our protection? Don't freak out because they wanted to help so I ended up recruiting 2,000 of the sons to help defend us against the Nephites. It's no big deal because they volunteered! Their fathers were about to break their covenant, but I was like, 'no,' and they were like, 'but we have to do something,' so the sons were like, 'we'll go,' and I was like, 'really,' and they were like, 'only if you lead us." So now I'm sort of a captain like you! Neat-o right?? So that happened (v2-8).
     "Then you'll never guess what happened next! We went to Judea to help out Antipus, who was so happy to see us, and these sons (I call them that because we love each other like family after our experiences) ended up being a great support to the army because the Lamanites were already in Manti, Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah. Yeah talk about letting things get out of hand, anywayz we helped fortify Judea, lift the spirits of those around, and prevented the Lamanites from attacking because we looking intimidating apparently (v9-19).
      "So when the 27th year started, we were so ready to fight if the Lamanites attacked and we watched them carefully for tricks but they didn't do anything! Thats when we got provisions from the families of my warriors and even 2,000 more men from Zarahemla. We now had 10,000 men and I could tell the Lamanites are shaking in their boots because they started trying to intercept our provisions. So here's the plan we hatched, I take my army nonchalantly down the road past Antiparah acting like I don't know they are there to draw them out while Antipus comes up behind them after they leave the city. Genius right? (v20-35)."
<*commentary as Moroni is reading the letter* Wow I did the same thing! Great minds think alike :) Helman must have been listening to the spirit like I did>
      "So this army that we just tricked was one of the most powerful in this part of the land, so having them on the tail of my 2,000 young sons was not fun, but I trusted that Antipus was coming to our rescue, and he was. I mean he didn't catch up for like 3 days but eventually he had caught up and the Lamanites stopped coming after us to contend with Antipus. Boy was I exhausted! Now I want to tell you how amazing these 2,000 young men are, because when I came to them with the question, 'Will ye go against them to battle?' Because they could have stopped for any reason! You know what they answered? They said, 'God is with us and He will protect us, but we have to go help Antipus even if we do not want to kill the Lamanites. (v36-43).
    "I am so blessed to know them. They went into battle with no previous experience, but with no fear of death. They fought to give liberty to their fathers and had been taught by their mothers to trust in God. Turns out they were right and the Lamanites were in battle with Antipus when we came upon them. Our allies were weary and were about to fall to the Lamanites because some of our fellow Nephite leaders had fallen from weariness. It's a good thing we came back at this critical time because we were able to turn the tide of the battle away from Antipus and confuse the Lamanites enough to slay many until they surrendered (v44-54).
     "As exciting as all that was, I'm still not finished because when we accounted for the dead, none of my 2,000 sons had died, trust me, I would have been heartbroken if even one had been killed. They had fought with miraculous strength which is what I attribute our victory to and why we have so many prisoners now. We sent those prisoners and part of Antipus's army to guard them to Zarahemla, hope you don't mind. And now we are on our way back to Judea to plan some more awesome heroics!"
Man, 'interpreting' these epistles is way fun. You all should try it sometime!

Alma Ch55

Although Moroni wants his people back, he refuses to exchange because Ammoron didn't promise to stop the fighting, the Lamanites are then tricked by the oldest trick in the book to set the prisoners free. The Nephites are freed and the city of Gid is taken over without any bloodshed. Moroni fortifies and plans more to get back more cities.
Moroni gets upset at the letter Ammoron (if you didn't read my interpretation it's in the previous chapter) because you can tell Ammoron knows full well that he is leading his people into darkness (v1). So he says, probably to his fellow war council members, "I'm not going to give this creep back the prisoners just so he can try to gain more power, he has to promise not to attack anymore. We know where the prisoners are being kept, lets go get them back ourselves with what they used to do to get people out of bondage from the Lamanites (v2-3)."
So he searches among his people for a convert Lamanite, and found one of the servants of the old murdered king whose name is Laman to lead a group of Lamanite looking men to give alcohol to the guards at the city of Gid, where the Nephite prisoners are kept (v4-8). The guards totally believed that the group were escaped prisoners that had stolen the booze and decided to drink it all that night (v9-13). Now this was specifically prepared to be extra strong, so as they drank they got wasted and passed out, at which point the Nephites came and gave all the prisoners weapons to fight (v14-17).
Moroni did this all while they slept so he didn't have to kill any of them, but if they had woken up they would have died, he actually wanted to save them, or at least give them a chance to surrender, so the army surrounded them (v18-21). When the Lamanites woke up, they were surrounded and completely surrendered their weapons on the spot liberating the Nephite prisoners and becoming prisoners to Moroni who started making them work to fortify the city of Gid (v22-25). After they finished fortifying Gid, they went to Bountiful to work and be a part of the many many other prisoners they had already taken, but they guarded them well and never fell for the silly schemes the Lamanites try to pull (v26-29).
I mean seriously the Nephites JUST pulled the giving alcohol to the guards thing and the Lamanites are trying to poison the guards the same way, so unimaginative (v30). Also the fact that the Nephites are being righteous and being blessed by the Lord for their faith, and by that I mean they are first testing the drinks on Lamanite prisoners (v31-32). It became very necessary for Moroni to start planning to take back the city of Morianton because the Lamanites were using it as a supply for their army, a strong hold, and its the reason the war continues, so they start planning at the end of the 29th year, but we will hear about it later because this chapter is over (v33-35).

Alma Ch54

This chapter has a exchanges between Moroni and Ammoron through epistles. They are trying to organize the exchange prisoners but mostly they just get mad at each other when then the Lamanites are commanded to stop this unnecessary fighting by Moroni. In response, Ammoron says no and demands the Nephites become the Lamanite's subjects or die, so obviously negotiations are not going to happen.
So Ammoron is the one who reaches out first and requests an exchange of prisoners which brought joy to Moroni because he wanted his people free and also to not have to use supplies he could be using for his people used on the Lamanite prisoners (v1-2). Moroni wanted to obtain as many Nephites back as possible and there were many women and children so he sends back an epistle with Ammoron's servant that summed up to go a little like this (v4-5):
          "Dear Ammoron, I've tried to talk some sense into you before about this silly war you are carrying on in your brother's absence, but you still seem oddly determined. I would like to again remind you that God's not happy and his justice will smith thee unless you repent. Like seriously, there is an extra special awful hell waiting for you if you don't stop this foolish attacking, but since you're probably going to ignore my warnings like you have in the past, I'm still ready for whatever you throw at us. Now on the topic of prisoners that you actually inquired about, here are my conditions: a man and his family for one of your warriors. Accept them or my army will come against you to drive you out of the land. If you haven't noticed, I'm a BIT upset at you all for killing so many of my people and totally will attack if I have to. Toodles! ~Moroni"
Now personally I found that ^ very entertaining to summarize from v5-14, but it was a lot more serious and strong worded, I just like to imagine Moroni actually saying all that. Anyway, Ammoron ended up getting upset at Moroni's aggression in his letter and writes back saying (v15):
       "Dear Moroni, you freaking killed my brother! I fight to avenge him and I ain't scared of you! I know the truth of how Nephi robed Laman and Lemuel of their rightful leadership over everyone, and we plan to get what is deserved." <sidebar: technically Ammoron would be considered a Nephite because at first the Zoramites were dissenters...bahaha> "But despite not giving up, I'll accept the terms of the prisoner exchange because I'm sick of feeding all these whining Nephites. Oh yeah, and that religious talk is all bogus :P I don't believe it so nana-nana-booboo you can't scare me. I'm a proud Lamanite who is going avenge the wrongs you Nephites have forced on everyone! Bye! ~Ammoron"
Again, way too much fun thinking of him actually saying that from v16-24. I hope you don't think its completely weird of me to paraphrase in such a weird way, at least I enjoyed myself. Plus, who reads this anyway?

Alma Ch53

AHHHHH STRIPLING WARRIORS!!! As you can tell I'm excited :) this has always been one of my favorite stories because of the hunky momma's boys that are so faithful and such a great example. Now-a-days you might identify our missionaries as our stripling warriors, but really it is any worthy priesthood holder who is faithful to his covenants. The story of how they came to be will be told along with the cause they were needed and the use of those Lamanites prisoners.
We actually start with the prisoners and how they were compelled to dig graves, ditches, fortifying cities, and making armor and do other labors under the direction of Lehi who is a man like Moroni, being beloved by the people (v1-4). The labors of the Lamanites fortified the city of Bountiful which is where the prisoners were kept by the Nephites being easy to guard as they worked (v5). The Nephites focused their efforts on defense now that the badest army of the Lamanites was mostly taken prisoner, but in the south of their land, there were some dissensions within the Nephites and the Lamanites gained some major victories over there (v6-9).
Okay so remember those Lamanites that had been completely converted by Ammon? They were the ones that swore to never fight again, so they were being protected by the Nephites (v10-12). Yet when they saw that the Nephites were suffering, they wanted to help defend the country from the enemies, but Helman persuaded them not to break the covenant they had made with the Lord because bad things would happen (v13-15). By this time, the people of Ammon had 2,000 sons who had not covenanted, that were old enough to enter a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites and protect them from bondage under Helaman's leadership (v16-19).
These sons were young, valiant for courage, strong, true, and been taught to keep the commandments of God to always walk uprightly before him (v20-21). Helaman accepted the call to lead these faithful young men to battle at the end of the 28th year (v22-23). Ah! I can't wait for more stories of these awesome guys! Seriously :)

Alma Ch52

The Lamanites wake up to a dead king and accept his brother as their new king who still fights against the Nephites but is unsuccessful thanks to Moroni, Teancum, and Lehi. It may seem random that Jacob the Lamanite is mentioned in the heading but its a good story and I'm sure we'll find some kind of insight hidden in there for us.
The Lamanites were freaked out seeing the Nephite army ready to attack their king lying dead on the first day of the 26th year, so they ran off northward to the city of Mulek which was fortified pretty well (v1-2). Ammoron was appointed to reign in the stead of his brother Amalickiah, and he caused that the Lamanites not back down, but keep the cities they had taken (v3-4). Teancum was wise enough to see that he could not over take the cities so he pretended to be preparing to attack the cities so the Lamanites would prepare to defend, but really he was stalling until Moroni sent men to support him with orders to keep all prisoners as bargaining chips and protect more cities from falling under the Lamanites (v5-9).
Moroni would have come himself with his armies and easily taken back cities where Teancum was, but Ammoron had told the queen what happened then came back with another army in a different part of the land to harass the Nephites on both sides (v10-14). Now after a year of all that, Moroni could finally come to assist Teancum in retaking the cities, in year 27, because there was no way that Teancum could do it alone because of the awesome fortifications it had started with (v15-17). Moroni finally arrived and a war council was held to strategize on how to retake Mulek in the 28th year (v18-19).
The leader of the Lamanites who possessed Mulek was a man by the name of Jacob, a Zoramite, who prefered staying cooped up in the city and not battling it out with the Nephites on fair grounds (v20-21). So the council planned to send a decoy of a small number of men to march close enough and small enough to be bait to draw out the armies of the Lamanites to pursue them down the seashore (v22-23). As Teancum's little force fled, Jacob's army began pursuing with confidence while the army Moroni commanded easily killed the small number of guards left to defend the city of Mulek (v24-26).
Once they got the city, they went to meet Jacob and his army who happened to be fleeing from Teancum and the reinforcements Lehi gave when they came near Bountiful, and because the Nephites knew the plan was to trap Jacob outside the city all along, Lehi didn't worry about catching them (v27-30). When the armies finally all met, the Nephites were pretty fresh and ready for battle while the Lamanites had been marching so much they were tired, so Moroni gave them the chance to surrender but Jacob led them to fight anyway (v31-33). After a while of fighting, Moroni was wounded, Jacob was killed, and many died but then the Lamanites began to surrender and be confused without their leader, so a majority of the army was taken prisoner, more than had been slain on both sides (v34-40).
So here is my guess at the insight to why Jacob is important enough for us to know about that he is in the scriptures. Not only is he a Zoramite leading the Lamanite army, but he is a coward and hides in the city until he finds a small army he knows he would have a good chance of beating. So this guy is a bully and like all bullies, only picks fights with those who are weaker than them. This also says a lot about how to beat the bullies, you can be smarter than them and have a good plan! It's also helpful to have a friend or two to help you, and within the gospel you have a friend in Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost who love to help you beat up on Satan and his temptations.

Alma Ch51

More corruption among the Nephites with a group named the king-men, who are trying to change laws in order to set up a king. The other political party is the freemen who are supported by the voice of the people and Moroni who, as the military leader, forces the king-men to choose to be peaceful or die. Hard choice right? But through all this political upheaval, there is less focus on the Lamanites who attack and capture some cities. Then the cool story that Teancum is really famous for is told, but not spoilers, you're just going to have to read the whole thing!
So it is starting the 25th year in peace but soon there were people who were wanting the law to change, so they petitioned but Pahoran refused their desires and that made some of them pretty heated wanting to overthrow the government in favor of being ruled by a king again (v1-5). Two political parties arouse and brought their despute to a vote; the people who wanted things to stay the same were called freemen and had sworn to protect their liberty while the people who wanted a king again called king-men and they were power hungry (v6-8). The people voted, and it was settled that the law will not change, but this happened just as the Lamanites were coming upon them to attack again with as many people as Amalickiah could bring to attack the city of Zarahemla just as the voting had finished (v9-12).
When the king-men saw the Lamanites coming they refused to fight for freedom, but Moroni gained power, through petition, as the captain of the army to compel any dissenters to fight for the cause of freedom or be put to death (v13-15). While trying to prevent contentions among the Nephites, Moroni had to fight the king-men to pull down their pride and their nobility and ended up killing 4,000 dissenters and imprisoning several of the leader before the rest would join in defending their country from the real enemy (v16-20). This was an end to king-men in Zarahemla because they were humbled by Moroni who knew it was necessary to stop the contentions among the Nephites (v21-22).
The Lamanites made a lot of progress while Moroni was busy and took over 7 cities even though they had been fortified which means now the Lamanites possess strongholds that are fortified (v23-27). They then marched to Bountiful and was finally met with the army that is led by Teancum, who had an army that bested the Lamanites from superior strength (v28-31). After a long day of battle, the armies were settled for sleep to be ready to fight the next day (v32).
Ready for Teancum's famous story!?! Ok so as everyone is sleeping, Teancum and a servant sneak right into the camp of Amalickiah and weren't even noticed because of their much fatigue (v33). Teancum quitely sneaks into Amalickiah's tent and kills him in sleep so quickly that no one was disturbed in their sleep (v34). The two return back to their own camp and ready the army to prepare for whatever reaction the Lamanites will have to their king being slain on the last day of the year 25 (v35-37).

Alma Ch50

Moroni continues to fortify the cities of the Nephites and even build new cities then as years pass, they become wicked and start losing! But we still have awesome guys like Teancum to win some major battles. Then the judgment seat is passed on as the Chief Judge dies.
Even though the Nephites were so very amazingly successful and defending themselves against the Lamanites, Moroni knew they would be back so he continues to reinforce the cities with ditches and heaps of earth protected by timbers as pickets (v1-3). He also caused towers to be built so the Nephites would see their enemies coming and be able to cast stones and such from on high which made pretty much every city a stronghold (v4-6). Moroni continues by driving out any remaining Lamanites in their lands back to their own so the Nephites could possess the land between the two nations and make strong fortifications to secure the lines between them (v7-11).
The army continued to increase in strength and power by building new cities that were equally strong and fortified including Moroni, Aaron, and Lehi, until the end of the 20th year (v12-16). Along with peace and growing, they became rich and began to multiply and grow larger in number all from being blessed by the Lord for their righteousness with prosperity, safety, and happiness (v17-24). Now we have four years pass away and all of a sudden there is contention from a misunderstanding of who owned what land with two of the newer cities (v25-26).
The people in Morianton wanted to settle it with fighting, but Lehi's people went to appeal to Moroni for help, and Captain Moroni, being the freaking awesome military leader that he is, scares the people of Morianton away without even trying (v27-28). With their fear, they planned to flee but under certain circumstances such as their leader, Morianton, beating a servant girl, who then fled and told Moroni of their intentions, they were stopped because Moroni didn't want this to cause more problems (v29-33). The army that Moroni sent was lead by Teancum and they met with Morianton's people near the land of Desolation in battle in which Teancum slew Morianton and took prisoners (v34-35).
The people had been led by a wicked man and were not severely punished because they promised to keep the peace if things could go back to the way they were (v36). This all happened at the end of the 24th year and at the same time, Nephihah, who became Chief Judge when Alma resigned to be a full-time church leader, resigned and appointed his son, Pahoran, to fill his shoes (v39-40). Now Nephihah was a good Chief Judge and was righteous, but he had refused the sacred records when Alma had offered meaning he knew that Helaman was the rightful leader of the church and it was wise to keep them separate (v37-38). I hope his son is as good as he was...

Alma Ch49

The Lamanites start their invasion but are unable to breach the fortification made in Ammonihah and Noah. Then Amalickiah  swears to drink Moroni's blood (yeah I know, gross right?) to gain his strength, of course, spoiler, this never happens but the church is continually strengthened by the leaders.

In November of year 19, the Lamanites move to attack Ammoniah but are unsuccessful because because of the fortifications that Moroni caused to be built knowing that the Lamanites would consider it an easy target (v1-3). The Lamanites were surprised at the genius changes to protect the cities from attacks even now that they had prepared with breast plates and armor which they had lacked last time (v4-7). The Nephites have again made a new means of war that has never been seen in the Americas which is why the chief captains didn't attack the city but preserved their armies and retreated away towards another city,Noah, that they thought might be an easy target (v8-12).

Again they had no idea that Moroni had fortified all the cities and made weak cities stronger and more prepared because he knew where the Lamanites would think to attack (v13-15). The captains of the Lamanites were forced to attack anyway because they chickened out at Ammoniah and had to fight against Captain Lehi, who they remember and from that river fight (v16-17). No matter how hard the Lamanites fought, they couldn't get past the forts security because of the bank and ditch that was around the city with the army inside ready to attack all who tried to climb their way in (v18-20).

The Lamanites were driven back and slaughtered especially when they started to try and dig the banks down to get on equal ground, but that just made it worse because in the end, thousands died and no Nephites died at all (v21-23).Sure there were some 50 that had wounds, but they were just as strong as a whole as when the attack started and the Lamanites are now chief-less, so they head back to Amalickiah who just gets upset at them for not succeeding (v24-26). He wanted to control his old people, so he cursed God
(who he knows exists) and swears to drink Moroni's blood in vengeance (v27). While he is spitting evil, the Nephites are thanking their Lord for delivering them with the guidance of their church leaders, so that is the end of year 19 and still there is peace among them with many baptisms and repentance (v28-30).
I just want to add my personal testimony about spiritual defenses we need to build around us to protect ourselves from temptation and sin. I was raised in the church and at the time, didn't understand why my young women's leader wanted me to promise to keep chaste when I was so young and innocent. At that time I wasn't even interested in guys like that and guys certainly weren't interested in me like that, so I didn't take it very seriously. Of course, time passed and you could say I blossomed into something desirable and because I didn't take those lessons about protecting myself seriously I fell into some nasty habits that were self destructive. I know now what I need to guard myself against and I hope I can share what I have learned with others.

Alma Ch48

Amalickiah has become the leader and then goes right back to convincing the Lamanites to fight against the Nephites who are being prepared by Moroni to defend their religious freedom. Moroni rejoices in liberty and is a faithful man of God who has a strong testimony.
During the reign of Amalickiah, people were appointed to speak to the Lamanites and convince them to fight against the Nephites so he could be ruler over all the people in the land and be supported in his wickedness by the people through bondage of the Nephites (v1-4). The chief captains were the Zoramites who knew about the Nephite defenses and they departed towards Zarahemla, but while all that was going down since Amalickiah had left, Moroni was preparing the people through being faithful to the Lord and strengthening their armies with forts, walls, banks, and fortifications (v5-9). Moroni was a master in the art of defending cities because he was strong and mighty with a perfect understanding of the gospel so he prepared the people to support their liberty of religion and peace (v10-13).
Moroni showed thanks to the Lord by laboring to teach the Nephites how to defend themselves honorably with faith that the Lord will prosper them and keep them from bondage (v14-16). I have heard before that it is in this chapter that you can tell why Mormon admired Captain Moroni so much he named his son after him, and its clear in v17 how great Captain Moroni was! Even though there are times he gets angry, he is angry at the evil in the world and fights endlessly with all his might to expel all wickedness. His strength and faith in God was rivaled with the sons of Mosiah and Alma and his sons who were great men of God who served very successful missions (v18).
All the efforts of Moroni was helped by the leaders of the church who went around preaching to the people to humble themselves and keep peace until they had to defend themselves (v19-21). There was no way to avoid the confrontation with the Lamanites, but they were reluctant and sorrowed when they shed the blood of their brethren because they knew that those who died among the Lamanites were not prepared to be judged (v22-23). It was still necessary for them to do so though to save their families and liberty in the land of promise (v24-25)