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Alma the Elder

The young priest of Noah who believes Abinadi, flees, founds “the church of God, or the church of Christ” at the waters of Mormon, leads his people through bondage and deliverance, and dies at Zarahemla as high priest — “the founder of their church.”

Account

A note on the name. The text never calls this man “Alma the elder”; it distinguishes father from son only by formulas such as “Alma, who was the son of Alma” (Mosiah 28:20) and “he being called Alma, after his father” (Mosiah 27:8). This wiki uses the conventional elder/younger labels; the alternative would be the numbering convention this wiki already uses for Mosiah I and Mosiah II.

Among the priests of Noah

Alma enters the record at the moment Abinadi is condemned: “there was one among them whose name was Alma, he also being a descendant of Nephi. And he was a young man, and he believed the words which Abinadi had spoken, for he knew concerning the iniquity which Abinadi had testified against them” (Mosiah 17:2). He is the trial’s sole recorded convert, and his first act is advocacy: “he began to plead with the king that he would not be angry with Abinadi, but suffer that he might depart in peace” (Mosiah 17:2). The plea costs him everything at court: “the king was more wroth, and caused that Alma should be cast out from among them, and sent his servants after him that they might slay him” (Mosiah 17:3). In hiding, his second act is preservation: “he being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 17:4). The record of Abinadi’s sermon that the book of Mosiah contains thus has, by the text’s own account, a named human source. Abinadi himself is executed by fire (Mosiah 17:13–20); see Abinadi and King Noah.

Repentance and teaching in secret

The narrator marks the turn in one clause: Alma “repented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi” (Mosiah 18:1) — teaching “concerning that which was to come, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven” (Mosiah 18:2). The teaching is clandestine — “he taught them privately, that it might not come to the knowledge of the king” (Mosiah 18:3) — and believers gather “to a place which was called Mormon,” where Alma “did hide himself in the daytime from the searches of the king” (Mosiah 18:4–5). What he preaches there is “repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord” (Mosiah 18:7).

Alma’s own later confession fills in what the narrator’s “repented” covers: “remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord, which caused me sore repentance; Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands” (Mosiah 23:9–10).

The waters of Mormon: the covenant in his own voice

At the waters of Mormon the text preserves the covenant’s terms as Alma speaks them:

Mosiah 18:8–10: “Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life— Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?”

The people answer by acclamation: “they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts” (Mosiah 18:11). The first baptism is Helam’s — Alma prays “O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work with holiness of heart” (Mosiah 18:12), then pronounces: “Helam, I baptize thee, having authority from the Almighty God, as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the foundation of the world” (Mosiah 18:13) — and “both Alma and Helam were buried in the water” (Mosiah 18:14). With the second baptism “he did not bury himself again in the water” (Mosiah 18:15). “After this manner he did baptize every one that went forth to the place of Mormon; and they were in number about two hundred and four souls” (Mosiah 18:16).

The result the text names is an institution: “they were called the church of God, or the church of Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church” (Mosiah 18:17) — see Church of God for that institution’s full thread through Mosiah.

Ordering the church

Alma, “having authority from God, ordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number” (Mosiah 18:18). The order he commands is specific: teach “nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets” (Mosiah 18:19); preach “nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord” (Mosiah 18:20); “no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another” (Mosiah 18:21); sabbath observance and daily thanks (Mosiah 18:23). Its economy is double-sided: “the priests whom he had ordained should labor with their own hands for their support” (Mosiah 18:24), and the people “should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given” (Mosiah 18:27) — “of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul” (Mosiah 18:28). The narrator attributes the design upward: “this he said unto them, having been commanded of God” (Mosiah 18:29).

Escape, and the land of Helam

The king discovers “a movement among the people” and concludes “that Alma was stirring up the people to rebellion against him; therefore he sent his army to destroy them” (Mosiah 18:32–33). “Alma and the people of the Lord were apprised of the coming of the king’s army; therefore they took their tents and their families and departed into the wilderness. And they were in number about four hundred and fifty souls” (Mosiah 18:34–35).

The flight is narrated again with a different cause: “Alma, having been warned of the Lord that the armies of king Noah would come upon them… they gathered together their flocks, and took of their grain, and departed into the wilderness before the armies of king Noah. And the Lord did strengthen them, that the people of king Noah could not overtake them” (Mosiah 23:1–2). “They fled eight days’ journey into the wilderness” to “a very beautiful and pleasant land, a land of pure water,” where “they pitched their tents, and began to till the ground” (Mosiah 23:3–5). The settlement prospers — “they called the land Helam,” and “they built a city, which they called the city of Helam” (Mosiah 23:19–20).

”It is not expedient that we should have a king”

At Helam, “the people were desirous that Alma should be their king, for he was beloved by his people” (Mosiah 23:6). He refuses, with a divine word as his stated ground: “Behold, it is not expedient that we should have a king; for thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another; therefore I say unto you it is not expedient that ye should have a king” (Mosiah 23:7). His refusal is conditional in principle — “if it were possible that ye could always have just men to be your kings it would be well for you to have a king” (Mosiah 23:8) — but Noah is his counterexample (Mosiah 23:9), and his counsel is categorical: “stand fast in this liberty wherewith ye have been made free, and… trust no man to be a king over you” (Mosiah 23:13), nor any teacher or minister “except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments” (Mosiah 23:14). This refusal belongs to the book’s larger argument about kingship — weighed on Kings & Judges. What Alma is instead is stated at Mosiah 23:16: “Alma was their high priest, he being the founder of their church,” and “none received authority to preach or to teach except it were by him from God” (Mosiah 23:17).

Bondage under Amulon

The narrator frames what follows as a thesis: “the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith” (Mosiah 23:21), and “they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God” (Mosiah 23:23) — the formula traced across Mosiah’s three bondage narratives on Bondage & Deliverance. A Lamanite army, guided by the priests of Noah under Amulon, occupies Helam (Mosiah 23:25–39); the Lamanites extract the way to the land of Nephi and “would not keep their promise; but they set guards round about the land of Helam, over Alma and his brethren” (Mosiah 23:37).

Amulon’s rule is personal: “Amulon knew Alma, that he had been one of the king’s priests, and that it was he that believed the words of Abinadi and was driven out before the king, and therefore he was wroth with him… and put tasks upon them, and put task-masters over them” (Mosiah 24:9). When the people “began to cry mightily to God” (Mosiah 24:10), Amulon forbids prayer on pain of death (Mosiah 24:11); “Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts” (Mosiah 24:12).

The answer comes in the Lord’s own voice — and it speaks the covenant language of the waters of Mormon back to the covenant people:

[Textual] — paraphrase/allusion. The covenant Alma defined at baptism is the covenant the Lord cites in bondage:

  • Mosiah 18:10 (Alma, at Mormon): “…as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?”
  • Mosiah 24:13 (the Lord, in Helam): “Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.”

[Textual] — shared phrasing. The witness-clause of the covenant returns in the Lord’s stated purpose for easing the bondage:

  • Mosiah 18:9 (the covenant’s terms): “…and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death…”
  • Mosiah 24:14 (the Lord): “…and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.”

[Textual] — shared phrasing. The burden-clause is fulfilled in the burden-bearers’ own flesh — the people who covenanted to make one another’s burdens light have their burdens made light:

  • Mosiah 18:8 (the covenant’s terms): “…and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;”
  • Mosiah 24:15 (the narrator): “And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.”

The deliverance

“So great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:16), with a personal commission: “Thou shalt go before this people, and I will go with thee and deliver this people out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:17). The escape is by night-gathering and a divinely caused sleep — “in the morning the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon the Lamanites, yea, and all their task-masters were in a profound sleep” (Mosiah 24:19). In the valley the people name for him — “they called the valley Alma, because he led their way in the wilderness” (Mosiah 24:20) — “they poured out their thanks to God… for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God” (Mosiah 24:21). Warned again (Mosiah 24:23), “after they had been in the wilderness twelve days they arrived in the land of Zarahemla; and king Mosiah did also receive them with joy” (Mosiah 24:25).

High priest over the church at Zarahemla

At Zarahemla, after Mosiah II reads the records of Zeniff and “the account of Alma and his brethren” to the gathered people (Mosiah 25:5–6), the king “desired that Alma should also speak to the people” (Mosiah 25:14). Alma preaches “repentance and faith on the Lord” body by body (Mosiah 25:15) and exhorts “the people of Limhi and his brethren, all those that had been delivered out of bondage, that they should remember that it was the Lord that did deliver them” (Mosiah 25:16). Limhi and his people desire baptism, and Alma “did baptize them after the manner he did his brethren in the waters of Mormon” (Mosiah 25:17–18).

The church then becomes a kingdom-wide institution by royal grant: “king Mosiah granted unto Alma that he might establish churches throughout all the land of Zarahemla; and gave him power to ordain priests and teachers over every church” (Mosiah 25:19). Seven churches stand in Zarahemla, “every priest preaching the word according as it was delivered to him by the mouth of Alma,” and “notwithstanding there being many churches they were all one church, yea, even the church of God” (Mosiah 25:21–23).

The discipline crisis and the revelation

A rising generation that “did not believe the tradition of their fathers” (Mosiah 26:1) deceives “many with their flattering words, who were in the church” (Mosiah 26:6), and the offenders are brought up the new hierarchy — teachers to priests, “and the priests brought them before Alma, who was the high priest” (Mosiah 26:7); “king Mosiah had given Alma the authority over the church” (Mosiah 26:8). The problem is unprecedented — “there had not any such thing happened before in the church; therefore Alma was troubled in his spirit” (Mosiah 26:10) — and the king refuses jurisdiction: “Behold, I judge them not; therefore I deliver them into thy hands to be judged” (Mosiah 26:12). Alma, fearing “that he should do wrong in the sight of God” (Mosiah 26:13), “poured out his whole soul to God” (Mosiah 26:14).

The answering revelation opens by reaching back to the beginning of his story:

[Textual] — paraphrase/allusion. The Lord’s first word to Alma names the act that made him — the narrator’s report at the trial becomes the Lord’s stated ground of blessing:

  • Mosiah 17:2 (the narrator): “And he was a young man, and he believed the words which Abinadi had spoken, for he knew concerning the iniquity which Abinadi had testified against them…”
  • Mosiah 26:15 (the Lord): “Blessed art thou, Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi.”

The revelation continues: “blessed art thou because thou hast established a church among this people; and they shall be established, and they shall be my people” (Mosiah 26:17); “Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep” (Mosiah 26:20). The Lord claims the institution as his own — “For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance” (Mosiah 26:22) — and answers the jurisdictional question directly: receive whoever will hear (“he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church,” Mosiah 26:21); “he that will not hear my voice, the same shall ye not receive into my church, for him I will not receive at the last day” (Mosiah 26:28); judge the transgressor, forgive the confessing penitent — “as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me” (Mosiah 26:30) — and require the same of the members: “ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses” (Mosiah 26:31). The unrepentant “shall not be numbered among my people” (Mosiah 26:32). The doctrinal weight of this revelation for the church as an institution is treated on Church of God.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. At Helam’s baptism Alma pronounced the covenant’s promise over the first convert: “may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ” (Mosiah 18:13); in the revelation the Lord pronounces the same promise over Alma personally: “I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life” (Mosiah 26:20) — and the covenant terms themselves had ended “that ye may have eternal life” (Mosiah 18:9). The reading offered for weighing is that the revelation deliberately seals upon the baptizer the blessing he spent his ministry pronouncing on others. The shared phrase “eternal life” is common scriptural language, and the text never marks the echo explicitly — this is a thematic pairing, not a quotation.

Alma’s response repeats his first act in the record: “when Alma had heard these words he wrote them down that he might have them, and that he might judge the people of that church according to the commandments of God” (Mosiah 26:33). He judges accordingly — the penitent “he did number among the people of the church,” and those who “would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity… were not numbered among the people of the church, and their names were blotted out” (Mosiah 26:35–36). “Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church; and they began again to have peace” (Mosiah 26:37).

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. Twice the record shows Alma answering revelation with a pen: concealed from Noah’s servants, “he being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 17:4); hearing the Lord’s voice on church discipline, “he wrote them down that he might have them” (Mosiah 26:33). The reading offered for weighing is that the text characterizes Alma as a preserver of the word — both of the long discourses his story transmits (Abinadi’s defense, the discipline revelation) exist in the record, by the text’s own account, because Alma wrote them down. The parallel is structural; the text never remarks on it.

His son

Persecution of the church grows until “the church began to murmur… and they did complain to Alma. And Alma laid the case before their king, Mosiah” (Mosiah 27:1), producing a royal proclamation of protection and equality (Mosiah 27:2–5). But among the unbelievers is “one of the sons of Alma… he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became a very wicked and an idolatrous man” (Mosiah 27:8), who “went about secretly with the sons of Mosiah seeking to destroy the church” (Mosiah 27:10).

The angel who stops him cites the father’s prayers as the cause of the intervention: “Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth” (Mosiah 27:14) — and commands the son to “remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi… for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them” (Mosiah 27:16). When the son is carried home dumb and helpless, “his father rejoiced, for he knew that it was the power of God” (Mosiah 27:20). Alma gathers a multitude “that they might witness what the Lord had done for his son” (Mosiah 27:21), assembles the priests to fast and pray (Mosiah 27:22), and “after they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights, the limbs of Alma received their strength, and he stood up” (Mosiah 27:23). The son’s testimony of being “born of the Spirit” (Mosiah 27:24) is his own story — see Alma the Younger.

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. Alma’s story is bracketed by answered prayer in his own behalf and in his son’s. Of his own repentance he testifies: “the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers” (Mosiah 23:10); of his son the angel declares: “the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee” (Mosiah 27:14). The reading offered for weighing is a deliberate symmetry — the man whose cries were heard becomes the man whose prayers are cited by an angel as the reason for a son’s rescue. The shared language (“hear… prayers”) is common idiom; the pairing is thematic, and the text does not connect the two verses itself.

His captivity remembered in his grandsons’ generation

Alma the elder’s life ends at Mosiah 29:45; the book of Alma — kept by his son — never names him again. But the bondage he led his people through and out of becomes, in the next two generations, a thing commanded to be remembered. The words his own son and grandsons use to recite that captivity reach back into Alma the elder’s Helam ministry, and three registered connections make the line of transmission exact. (These records are hosted on the pages of the men who re-voice the language; the cross-links are noted here so the elder’s own thread can be followed forward.)

The captivity remembered. When Alma the Younger gives his testament, he opens it by commanding his son to “do as I have done, in remembering the captivity of our fathers; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Alma 36:2). The “captivity of our fathers” is literal — it is the bondage at Helam under Amulon that Alma the elder lived through, and the verdict-formula “none could deliver them” is the one his people pronounced in the valley of Alma, “they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God” (Mosiah 24:21). The two are registered as a pair — (Mosiah 24:21 ↔ Alma 36:2) — on Bondage & Deliverance, where the elder’s bondage is one terminus of the theme’s whole chain. The same page registers Alma the Younger’s first-person form of the memory — “Yea, and I also remember the captivity of my fathers” (Alma 29:11) — against the editor’s thesis-title for the deliverer (, Mosiah 23:23 ↔ Alma 29:11). The captivity the grandsons are charged to keep in remembrance is their grandfather’s.

The trust-doctrine re-voiced. Alma the elder’s stated rule at Helam — that “whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day” (Mosiah 23:22) — is the doctrine his son re-voices to two of the grandsons in the same testament. To Helaman: “whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 36:3); and almost verbatim to Shiblon: “as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 38:5). The connection — the elder’s Helam rule surfacing in his son’s charge to the third generation, spoken alongside the very captivity it was first uttered within — is registered as (Alma 36:3 ↔ Mosiah 23:22) on Alma the Younger.

The instrument-formula. The formula by which Alma the elder named his own calling — “the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth” (Mosiah 23:10) — runs forward as a chain into the second generation’s missionary language. The sons of Mosiah pray “that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring… their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth” (Alma 17:9), are promised “I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls” (Alma 17:11), and Ammon reports the whole company “have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work” (Alma 26:3). The strongest cross-book pair — Ammon’s report against Alma the elder’s self-description — is registered as (Alma 26:3 ↔ Mosiah 23:10) on Ammon (son of Mosiah); Alma the elder’s verse is the chain’s earliest terminus.

The conferral, the judgeship, and his death

Before the kingship question is settled, Mosiah “took the plates of brass, and all the things which he had kept, and conferred them upon Alma, who was the son of Alma; yea, all the records, and also the interpreters” (Mosiah 28:20) — the records go to the son, not the father. When the reign of judges begins, Mosiah 29:42 states the offices precisely: “Alma was appointed to be the first chief judge, he being also the high priest, his father having conferred the office upon him, and having given him the charge concerning all the affairs of the church.” Read exactly, the verse distinguishes two transfers: the chief judgeship is appointed (the people “did appoint judges,” Mosiah 29:41), while “the office” his father conferred — by the sentence’s antecedent, the high priesthood (“he being also the high priest”) — comes with “the charge concerning all the affairs of the church.” The father’s last recorded act is thus the transmission of his own office, not the new civil one.

His death notice is brief: “his father died, being eighty and two years old, having lived to fulfil the commandments of God” (Mosiah 29:45). The book’s final verse pairs his death with the end of the monarchy itself and repeats his title from Helam: “thus ended the reign of the kings over the people of Nephi; and thus ended the days of Alma, who was the founder of their church” (Mosiah 29:47) — the same designation given at Mosiah 23:16, “he being the founder of their church.”

Significance

Alma the elder is the only figure in Mosiah whose arc runs from Noah’s court to the reign of the judges, and the text measures the distance in his titles: “one of the king’s priests” (Mosiah 24:9) becomes “the founder of their church” (Mosiah 23:16, 29:47). He is Abinadi’s sole recorded convert (Mosiah 17:2), and the Lord’s own retrospective makes that single conversion the church’s foundation: “Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi… thou hast established a church among this people” (Mosiah 26:15, 17).

The covenant he voices at the waters of Mormon (Mosiah 18:8–10) is the page’s center of gravity: its clauses — bearing burdens that they may be light, standing as witnesses — return in the Lord’s words and the narrator’s report during the bondage in Helam (Mosiah 24:13–15), where the covenant community’s obligations become the Lord’s performance toward them. His refusal of the crown (Mosiah 23:7) and the chief-judgeship his son assumes at his death (Mosiah 29:42, 44) place him inside the book’s long argument about kings — see Kings & Judges — and the church he founds, transplanted from a hidden forest pool to seven congregations in Zarahemla (Mosiah 25:19–23), is the institution whose nature the Lord defines in revelation to him: “this is my church” (Mosiah 26:22).

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. Within the book of Mosiah, Alma is the figure through whom authority is repeatedly re-grounded away from the throne: he baptizes “having authority from the Almighty God” (Mosiah 18:13) while a fugitive from his king; he refuses kingship while consecrating priests, “none received authority to preach or to teach except it were by him from God” (Mosiah 23:17); and when king Mosiah faces church transgressors, the king declines — “I judge them not” (Mosiah 26:12) — and the standard comes by revelation to the high priest instead. The reading offered for weighing is that the narrative uses Alma to move the standard of religious judgment from the throne to revelation through the high priest before the monarchy itself ends. Against the through-line stand two verses in which the church’s institutional standing is itself a royal grant: “king Mosiah granted unto Alma that he might establish churches” (Mosiah 25:19) and “king Mosiah had given Alma the authority over the church” (Mosiah 26:8). The individual facts are textual; the through-line is an interpretive reading the text never states, and it holds only with the royal-grant verses weighed against it.

Key references

Abinadi · King Noah · Alma the Younger · Mosiah II · Limhi · Helaman (son of Alma) · Ammon (son of Mosiah) · Church of God · Waters of Mormon · Bondage & Deliverance · Kings & Judges · Land of Nephi · Zarahemla · Cited & Minor Figures · Index · Connections

Sources

The Book of Mormon (Mosiah 17–18, 23–29; Alma 17, 26, 29, 36, 38 for the cross-generational connections).

Every quote on this page is lifted verbatim from raw/ (Mosiah 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29; Alma 17, 26, 29, 36, 38). Textual facts are cited to their verse. The four [interpretive] callouts are flagged as new claims requiring a disprove-check and are offered for weighing, not asserted as settled. Alma the elder dies in the book of Mosiah; the book of Alma — kept by his son — never names him again, but the bondage he led his people through is recited forward by his son and grandsons. The three connections this page cross-links into that later text (, , ) are registered and hosted on the pages of the men who re-voice his language; this page introduces no new records of its own.