Resolved to keep their swords bright, and not to stain them with blood, the anti-Lehi-Nephis go into battle without weapons, refrain from self-defense, and are slaughtered by the Lamanites. But the Lamanites are so moved by the example of their opponents’ nonresistance that they are converted by it, “and it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number which had been slain.”
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) left no account of his thoughts about this passage as he dictated it in 1827. Few antiwar activists know that the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon contains this astonishing account of collective nonresistance to war; Mormon scholars who have commented on the passage have argued against taking it as a document of pacifism. No doubt they are right, and certainly the Book of Mormon is no pacifist book. But the passage is there, linked in its imagery, if not by direct influence, to such texts as the Iroquois “Tree of the Great Peace” and the African American spiritual “Down by the River-Side.” It is part of the implicit if not the explicit conversation among antiwar writings separated from one another by time, space, and culture: “Brave, setting up signals across vast distances, / considering a nameless way of living, of almost unimagined values,” as Muriel Rukeyser put it in “Poem” in 1968.
1 And it came to pass that the Amlicites and the Amulonites and the Lamanites
which were in the land of Amulon and also in the land of Helam
and which was in the land of Jerusalem
—and, in fine, in all the land round about—
which had not been converted
and had not taken upon them the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehi
were stirred up by the Amlicites and by the Amulonites
to anger against their brethren.
2 And their hatred became exceeding sore against them,
even insomuch that they began to rebel against their king,
insomuch that they would not that he should be their king.
Therefore they took up arms against the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.
3 Now the king conferred the kingdom upon his son,
and he called his name Anti-Nephi-Lehi.
4 And the king died in that selfsame year
that the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of God.
5 Now when Ammon and his brethren and all those which had come up with them
saw the preparations of the Lamanites to destroy their brethren,
they came forth to the land of Middoni.
And there Ammon met all his brethren;
and from thence they came to the land of Ishmael
that they might hold a council with Lamoni,
and also with his brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi,
what they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites.
6 Now there was not one soul among all the people
which had been converted unto the Lord
that would take up arms against their brethren.
Nay, they would not even make any preparations for war;
yea, and also their king commanded them that they should not.
7 Now these are the words which he said unto the people concerning the matter:
I thank my God, my beloved people,
that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us,
to preach unto us and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers.
8 And behold, I thank my great God
that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts,
that we have opened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.
9 And behold, I also thank my God that by opening this correspondence
we have been convinced of our sins
and of the many murders which we have committed.
10 And I also thank my God, yea, my great God,
that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things,
and also that he hath forgiven us
of these our many sins and murders which we have committed
and took away the guilt from our hearts through the merits of his Son.
11 And now behold, my brethren,
since it has been all that we could do,
as we were the most lost of all mankind,
to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed
and to get God to take them away from our hearts
—for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God
that he would take away our stains—
12 now my best beloved brethren,
since God hath taken away our stains and our swords have become bright,
then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.
13 Behold, I say unto you:
Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren.
For perhaps if we should stain our swords again,
they can no more be washed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God,
which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins.
14 And the great God has had mercy on us
and made these things known unto us that we might not perish.
Yea, and he hath made these things known unto us beforehand
because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children.
Therefore in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels,
that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us
as well as unto future generations.
15 O how merciful is our God!
And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do
to get our stains taken away from us and our swords are made bright,
let us hide them away that they may be kept bright
as a testimony to our God at the last day
—or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged—
that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren
since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby.
16 And now my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us,
behold, we will hide away our swords;
yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth,
that they may be kept bright
as a testimony that we have never used them,
at the last day.
And if our brethren destroy us,
behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved.
17 And now it came to pass that
when the king had made an end of these sayings,
and all the people were assembled together,
they took their swords and all the weapons
which were used for the shedding of man’s blood
and they did bury them up deep in the earth.
18 And thus they did,
it being in their view a testimony to God and also to men
that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood.
And this they did, vouching and covenanting with God that
rather than to shed the blood of their brethren,
they would give up their own lives;
and rather than to take away from a brother,
they would give unto him;
and rather than to spend their days in idleness,
they would labor abundantly with their hands.
19 And thus we see that
when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth
that they were firm and would suffer even unto death rather than to commit sin.
And thus we see that they buried the weapons of peace—
or they buried the weapons of war for peace.
20 And it came to pass that their brethren the Lamanites made preparations for war
and came up to the land of Nephi for the purpose of dethroning the king
and to place another in his stead,
and also of destroying the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi out of the land.
21 And it came to pass that when the people saw that they were coming against them,
they went out to meet them and prostrated themselves before them to the earth
and began to call on the name of the Lord.
And thus they were in this attitude
when the Lamanites began to fall upon them
and began to slay them with the sword.
22 And thus without meeting any resistance they did slay a thousand and five of them.
And we know that they are blessed,
for they have gone to dwell with their God.
23 Now when the Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the sword,
neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left,
but that they would lay down and perish
and praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword—
24 now when the Lamanites saw this,
they did forbear from slaying them.
And there were many whose hearts had swollen in them
for those of their brethren who had fallen under the sword,
for they repented of the thing which they had done.
25 And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war
and they would not take them again,
for they were stung for the murders which they had committed.
And they came down, even as their brethren,
relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them.
26 And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day
by more than the number which had been slain.
And those which had been slain were righteous people;
therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they are saved.
27 And there was not a wicked man slain among them,
but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth.
Thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people.
28 Now the greatest number of those of the Lamanites
which slew so many of their brethren
were Amlicites and Amulonites,
the greatest number of whom were after the order of the Nehors.
29 Now among those which joined the people of the Lord,
there were none which were Amlicites or Amulonites,
or which were after the order of Nehor,
but they were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel.
30 And thus we can plainly discern that
after a people has been once enlightened by the Spirit of God
and hath had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness
and then have fallen away into sin and transgression,
they become more hardened;
and thus their state becometh worse
than as though they had never known these things.