"To prove to his people that Abinadi was wrong, King Noah contrived a stratagem. He thought if he offered Abinadi an excuse or a pretext whereby Abinadi could escape punishment for the crime of which the prophet had been declared guilty, and if he made it so tempting that Abinadi would accept it, he would then be relieved of all liability as to Abinadi’s death. Recant what you have said, or die. The choice was left to the prophet.
’I will not recall the words which I have spoken…for they are true, and if ye slay me ye will shed innocent blood, and this shall stand against you at the last day.’
“The king became faint. He had been eager to accept a trumped-up apology from Abinadi, which did not come. At length King Noah grew worried. He was about to release Abinadi ‘for he feared his word’ and also, he feared ’the judgments of God would come upon him.’” (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 2, pp. 189-190)
Spencer W. Kimball
“Into the pattern of martyrdom comes the voluntary phase. In every instance the martyr could have saved his life by renouncing his program. Abinadi had been told he would be put to death. But he answered, I will not recall the words which I have spoken … for they are true...” (Conference Reports, Apr 1946, p. 47)
Elder Cree-L Kofford
"In all probability, having been in prison, Abinadi has been brought before the king and his priests in some form of physical restraint to minimize the possibility of escape. He has just heard the supreme authority of the land pronounce the death sentence upon him. Without attempting to impart emotions to Abinadi, consider yourself in that same circumstance. Would there not have been a flood of emotion pour over your body? Would there not have been, if only for a moment, a touch of panic, a desire to flee, a hope that the heavens would open and rescue would come? Now, having placed yourself in that frame of mind, would you not then have seized upon the words ‘unless thou wilt recall all the words which thou has spoken evil concerning me and my people’ as the hoped-for route of escape? Would not most of us have sought to find some manner of taking advantage of that opportunity to avoid the sentence of death? Under circumstances such as that, it would not seem too difficult to clothe in respectability the desire to live by simply considering all of the good which you could continue to do if your life were prolonged, and contemplating how you might ‘recall all the words’ in such an equivocal way as to still leave intact the teachings which you had sought to impart.
“Certainly most of us would be susceptible to some form of thinking along those or similar lines. And now, once again, we get a rare glimpse into the heart and mind of Abinadi, for the record states simply: ’Now Abinadi said unto him: I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true’ (Mosiah 17:9; emphasis added).” (Heroes from the Book of Mormon, pp. 71-2)