3 NephiChapter3

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:

In the sixteenth year after Christ came, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received a letter from the leader and governor of this band of robbers. This is what it said:

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.

Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land: I am writing this letter to you, and I give you high praise for your firmness, and your people's as well, in holding on to what you think is your right and liberty. You stand well, as if supported by the hand of a god, in defense of your liberty, property, and country, or what you call your country.

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.

It seems a pity to me, most noble Lachoneus, that you would be so foolish and conceited as to think you can stand against so many brave men who are under my command, men who stand armed at this very moment, waiting eagerly for the word, "Go down against the Nephites and destroy them."

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.

And I know their unconquerable spirit because I have tested them on the field of battle, and I know their undying hatred for you because of the many wrongs you have done them. So if they came down against you, they would destroy you completely.

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.

That is why I have written this letter and sealed it with my own hand, out of concern for your welfare, because of your firmness in what you believe is right and your noble spirit on the field of battle.

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.

So I am writing to ask you to hand over your cities, lands, and possessions to my people, rather than have them come against you with the sword and bring destruction on you.

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.

In other words, surrender to us, join us, get to know our secret works, and become our brothers so that you may be like us: not our slaves, but our brothers and partners in everything we own.

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.

And I swear to you with an oath: if you do this, you won't be destroyed. But if you don't do it, I swear to you with an oath that next month I will order my armies to come down against you, and they won't hold back or spare anyone, but will kill you and let the sword fall on you until you are wiped out.

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.

I am Giddianhi, and I am the governor of this secret society of Gadianton. I know that this society and its works are good. They are ancient, and they have been handed down to us.

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.

And I write this letter to you, Lachoneus, hoping that you will hand over your lands and possessions without any bloodshed, so that my people can get back their rights and government. They broke away from you because of your wickedness in keeping their rights of government from them. If you don't do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi.

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.

When Lachoneus read this letter, he was astonished at Giddianhi's boldness in demanding possession of the land of the Nephites, threatening the people, and avenging the wrongs of people who had suffered no wrong at all, except that they had wronged themselves by breaking away to join those wicked and detestable robbers.

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.

Now Lachoneus the governor was a just man, and he couldn't be frightened by the demands and threats of a robber. So he paid no attention to Giddianhi's letter. Instead, he had his people call out to the Lord for strength against the time when the robbers would come down against them.

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.

He sent a proclamation out among all the people, telling them to gather the women, children, flocks, herds, and everything they owned, except their land, into one place.

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.

And he had fortifications built all around them and made them very strong. He also had armies of both the Nephites and the Lamanites, that is, of all those who were counted among the Nephites, stationed as guards around them, to watch over them and protect them from the robbers day and night.

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.

He said to them, "As the Lord lives, unless you repent of all your sins and call out to the Lord, you will never be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers."

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.

Lachoneus's words and prophecies were so powerful and astonishing that they struck fear into all the people, and the people did everything in their power to do what he said.

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.

Lachoneus appointed chief captains over all the Nephite armies, to command them when the robbers came down out of the wilderness against them.

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.

Now the chief among all the chief captains, the great commander of the Nephite armies, was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni.

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.

Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint as their chief captains (except in their times of wickedness) someone who had the spirit of revelation and prophecy. So Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as was the chief judge.

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.

Now the people said to Gidgiddoni, "Pray to the Lord, and let us go up into the mountains and out into the wilderness, so that we can attack the robbers and destroy them in their own lands."

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.

But Gidgiddoni said to them, "The Lord forbid! If we went up against them, the Lord would deliver us into their hands. So we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands and gather all our armies together. We won't go out against them. We'll wait until they come against us. Then, as the Lord lives, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands."

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.

In the seventeenth year, toward the end of the year, Lachoneus's proclamation had gone out across the whole land. The people had taken their horses, chariots, cattle, flocks, herds, grain, and everything they owned, and they marched out by thousands and tens of thousands until they had all reached the place appointed for them to gather and defend themselves against their enemies.

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.

The land appointed was the land of Zarahemla, and the land between Zarahemla and Bountiful, out to the line between Bountiful and Desolation.

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.

There were many thousands of people called Nephites who gathered together in this land. Lachoneus had them gather in the land southward because of the great curse on the land northward.

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.

They fortified themselves against their enemies, lived together in one land and one body, and so feared what Lachoneus had said that they repented of all their sins. And they prayed to the Lord their God to deliver them when their enemies came down against them to battle.

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.

They were very sad because of their enemies. And Gidgiddoni had them make weapons of war of every kind and be well armed with armor, shields, and bucklers, just as he directed.