Episode 31: King Lamoni wakes from his sleep with God

Alma 19-20

19 ^1-2 By now people were beginning to think that King Lamoni was actually dead. He had been lying motionless on his bed for two days, so the queen called for Ammon to ask him what to do. ³ So Ammon came to see the queen, and she said to him, ⁵ “My husband’s body has been lying on a bed for two days. Some say he stinks and should be buried, but I don’t think he stinks.” ⁶ Ammon knew that the king was merely under the dark veil of unbelief. ⁸ So he said to the queen, “He’s sleeping in God. He’ll wake up tomorrow. So don’t bury him.”

⁹ Then Ammon asked the queen, “Do you believe me?” And the queen said, “I only have your word and the word of our servants. But, sure, I guess I believe you.” ¹⁰ Ammon said, “Bless you for your faith. There’s never been a Nephite with stronger faith than you.”

¹² She waited by the king's bed until the next day. He woke up just like Ammon said he would. When he did, he said, ¹³ “I’ve seen my Redeemer, who will be born of a woman, and will save everyone who believes in him.”

The king’s heart was swollen, and he sunk with joy, and the queen sunk down with him. They were overcome with the Spirit. ¹⁴ Ammon also sunk to the earth, so now all three of them were sunk.

^16-17 When the servants of the king saw that Ammon, the king and the queen had all fallen down, they started calling out to God, and then they also fell down to the earth. ¹⁷ Everyone fell down except Abish, whose father had seen a vision, so she knew everyone had fallen by the power of God. So she ran from house to house, telling people about it. ^19-21 A large crowd gathered, and they were astonished by the huge group laying on the floor, looking dead. They were unsure what to make of it, but they were pretty sure there was some kind of wickedness going on.

²² One of the members of the crowd was angry at Ammon, because Ammon had killed his brother in the waters of Sebus incident. He pulled out his sword and ran towards him, ready to kill him -- but when he lifted his sword to strike Ammon, he fell down dead. ²³ This happened because Ammon couldn’t be killed, since God said to Mosiah his father, “I will spare him.”

^25-26 Now the crowd was really confused. Some of them said that Ammon was the Great Spirit, some thought that he was sent by the Great Spirit, and others thought he was a monster who was sent by the Nephites to torment them. ^28-30 Everyone was arguing, and on the verge of fighting, so Abish walked up to the queen, and took her hand to help her up. Immediately, the queen yelled out, "O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful Hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people!" Then she spoke in tongues for a while, grabbed the king’s hand and he stood up on his feet.

^31-32 The king saw that the people were confused, and he tried to set the record straight about Ammon, God, the Great Spirit, and everything else. Most of the people believed him and were converted, but some didn’t, and they went away. ³³ Many Lamanites were converted that day. They stopped being wicked and established a church.

The release of Ammon's brethren

20 ¹ After Ammon and King Lamoni established a church, Lamoni wanted to take Ammon to the land of Nephi and introduce him to his father. ² But God said to Ammon, “Don’t visit the land of Nephi, because the king will try to kill you. Instead go rescue Aaron, Muloki, and Ammah who are in prison in the land of Middoni.” ³ So Ammon told Lamoni he couldn’t go with him to the land of Nephi.

⁴ Lamoni said to Ammon, “I’ll go with you to the land of Middoni. Antiomno, the king of Middoni, is my friend. I’ll flatter him and he’ll let your brothers go.”

^8-10 So they left for the land of Middoni. On the way, they ran across Lamoni's father, who was the king of all the land. He said to Lamoni, “Where are you going with this Nephite, who is the child of a liar?”

^11-14 Lamoni told his father where he was going, but his father was still angry and said to him, “Kill Ammon with your sword and return to the land of Ishmael.” ^15-16 But Lamoni refused, so his father drew his sword to kill his son.

¹⁷ Ammon said to him, “You won’t kill your son, even though it’d be better for him to die than you, since he has repented and is saved. If you died now, your soul couldn’t be saved.”

¹⁹ Lamoni’s father said, “Okay I won’t kill my son. I’ll kill you instead.” ²⁰ But Ammon smote his arm so he couldn’t use it. ²¹ Lamoni’s father then begged Ammon not to kill him, offering him half of his kingdom.

Ammon said, “I’ll kill you unless you get my brothers out of prison.” ²⁶ Lamoni’s father said, “I’ll get your brothers out of prison, and Lamoni can retain his kingdom.”

²⁸ So Ammon and Lamoni continued on their journey to the land of Middoni. When they arrived the king liked Ammon so much that he let his brothers out of prison.

[Remember back in chapter 17, when Alma ran across the four sons of Mosiah (Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni)? They all split up and went preaching to different groups, and chapters 18-20 followed Ammon's progress. Chapter 21 backs up a bit and follows Aaron's preaching to the Lamanites and the Amalekites in Jerusalem.]