Two Thousand Stripling Warriors
Alma 53, 56–57
When the people of Ammon, or the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, listened to the missionaries and converted to Christ, they made an oath never to shed blood again. Even though they had been great warriors, they buried their weapons and promised not to use them. The Nephites welcomed the people of Ammon to the land of Jershon and agreed to protect them.
Many years passed, and the Lamanites took control of a number of the Nephite cities along the seashore. The people of Ammon saw how the Nephites gave their lives in battle and fought so courageously. They began to consider breaking their oath in order to help the Nephites defend themselves against the Lamanites.
Just when they were about to break their oath and take up weapons of war, Helaman convinced them that if they did, they might commit a great sin and lose their souls. Instead, their young sons, who had not made the oath, came forward and promised to join the Nephites in fighting for liberty. With Helaman as their leader, two thousand courageous young men volunteered to fight. Helaman called them his sons, and they thought of him as a father. They were righteous young men who were true at all times and who kept the commandments of God.
The stripling warriors went forth in the strength of the Lord. Their mothers taught them that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. Their fathers sent many supplies to them and to the other Nephites. The stripling warriors led away the most powerful army of the Lamanites to the land northward. Then they turned back and fought courageously to help Antipus and his weary warriors gain victory over the Lamanites.
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Antipus
Antipus was a Nephite army officer appointed by Moroni to command some of the Nephite forces. His men were losing to the Lamanites until Helaman and the two thousand stripling warriors came to their rescue. Weak and tired from pursuing the Lamanites, Antipus lost his life in battle.
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The next year, sixty more stripling warriors joined with their brothers as well as six thousand men from Zarahemla. They took the city of Cumeni. Just when the rest of the Nephite army was about to give in to the Lamanites, the 2,060 stripling warriors fought most desperately and drove the Lamanites back. After the Lamanites fled, Helaman surveyed his stripling warriors to see if any had been killed. All of them had been wounded and many had fainted because of the loss of blood, but not one of them had died. The rest of the army was astonished that none of the stripling warriors had been slain. They knew that it was a miracle and that God had preserved their lives because of their great faith. They trusted in God, and they were protected by His power.
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Stripling Warriors
We do not know the exact age of the stripling warriors when they went to battle, but scholars figure that they were probably between twenty and twenty-two years old. That would mean they were about seven years old at the time their fathers took the oath never to fight again.21
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