3 Nephi 3
1 And now it came to pass that in the sixteenth year from the coming of
Christ, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received an epistle from the
leader and the governor of this band of robbers; and these were the words
which were written, saying:
2 Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, I write this
epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of
your firmness, and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which
ye suppose to be your right and liberty; yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were
supported by the hand of a god, in the defence of your liberty, and your
property, and your country, or that which ye do call so.
3 And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be
so foolish and vain as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave
men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms,
and do await with great anxiety for the word — Go down upon the Nephites
and destroy them.
4 And I, knowing of their unconquerable spirit, having proved them in the
field of battle, and knowing of their everlasting hatred towards you because
of the many wrongs which ye have done unto them, therefore if they should
come down against you they would visit you with utter destruction.
5 Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine own hand, feeling
for your welfare, because of your firmness in that which ye believe to be
right, and your noble spirit in the field of battle.
6 Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up unto this my
people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they
should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you.
7 Or in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and
become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that ye
may be like unto us — not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our
substance.
8 And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this, with an oath, ye shall not
be destroyed; but if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath, that on
the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against
you, and they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slay you,
and shall let fall the sword upon you even until ye shall become extinct.
9 And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this the secret
society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be
good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us.
10 And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoneus, and I hope that ye will
deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood,
that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have
dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them
their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs.
I am Giddianhi.
11 And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was
exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the
possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of threatening the people and
avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they
had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and
abominable robbers.
12 Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could
not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber; therefore
he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers,
but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against
the time that the robbers should come down against them.
13 Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people, that they should gather
together their women, and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all
their substance, save it were their land, unto one place.
14 And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, and
the strength thereof should be exceedingly great. And he caused that armies,
both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites, or of all them who were
numbered among the Nephites, should be placed as guards round about to
watch them, and to guard them from the robbers day and night.
15 Yea, he said unto them: As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your
iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in no wise be delivered out of the
hands of those Gadianton robbers.
16 And so great and marvelous were the words and prophecies of
Lachoneus that they did cause fear to come upon all the people; and they did
exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of Lachoneus.
17 And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chief captains over all
the armies of the Nephites, to command them at the time that the robbers
should come down out of the wilderness against them.
18 Now the chiefest among all the chief captains and the great commander
of the armies of the Nephites was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni.
19 Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief
captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the
spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great
prophet among them, as also was the chief judge.
20 Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go
up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the
robbers and destroy them in their own lands.
21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up
against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will
prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies
together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall
come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver
them into our hands.
22 And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year,
the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the
land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and
all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and
did march forth by thousands and by tens of thousands, until they had all
gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather
themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies.
23 And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla, and the
land which was between the land Zarahemla and the land Bountiful, yea, to
the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation.
24 And there were a great many thousand people who were called Nephites,
who did gather themselves together in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause
that they should gather themselves together in the land southward, because
of the great curse which was upon the land northward.
25 And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell
in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been
spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; and
they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver
them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle.
26 And they were exceedingly sorrowful because of their enemies.
And Gidgiddoni did cause that they should make weapons of war of every
kind, and they should be strong with armor, and with shields, and with
bucklers, after the manner of his instruction.
