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Book of Mormon Commentary
Alma Chapter 26
answered, "Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we shall fall; then let us
go forth" (54). "They had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, that God would
deliver them" (56).
Alma 26:59 And now behold, the armies of Antipus had overtaken them, and a terrible battle had
commenced.
Because of their weariness from their long march in the short time, "they were about to fall into
'the hands of the Lamanites" (60). "Antipus had fallen by the sword, and many of his leaders" (61).
When Helaman's army came it fought with such great vigor that "they began to slay them
exceedingly." Then the whole Lamanite army turned upon Helaman's sons (62). The Nephite
armies soon surrounded them, and the Lamanites were compelled to surrender (64).
Alma 26:66 But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and
they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such
miraculous strength;
Their prisoners were sent to the land of Zarahemla and also the remnant not slain by Antipus'
army. Helaman took the rest of his army back to the city of Judea. A consciousness of being in the
right always adds to one's strength.
THE SONS OF HELAMAN SUSTAINED BY FAITH, VER. 70-104
Alma 26:70 And now it came to pass that I received an epistle from Ammoron, the king, stating that if I
would deliver up those prisoners of war whom we had taken, that he would deliver up the city of
Antiparah unto us.
Helaman answered that he had forces sufficient to take the city , and considered it unwise to
deliver the prisoners for the city, but would exchange for Nephite prisoners. This counter-offer
was refused by Ammoron, so Helaman prepared "to go against the city" (72), but the Lamanites
fled Antiparah to other cities in their possession; so it “fell into our hands" (73) .
Early in the twenty-ninth year, men and provisions came from Zarahemla; so Helaman desired to
retake the city of Cumeni. He had the city surrounded by night, a little before it was to receive
provisions. They had to wait several days, but finally the provisions came and were captured with
those who brought them. The provisions were sent to Judea and the prisoners to Zarahemla. In a
short while the Lamanites surrendered the city (75-83).
Alma 26:85 But it came to pass that our prisoners were so numerous, that notwithstanding the enormity
of our numbers, we were obliged to employ all our force to keep them, or to put them to death.
We find no account that the Lamanites had ever bothered to take prisoners of war until the days of
warfare with Moroni. like the savages they were, they knew only "kill or be killed." The idea of
exchange of prisoners was discussed several times, but always something seemed to interfere with
completing the arrangements.