At one point, Mormon’s armies began to swear that “they would avenge themselves” of fellow Nephites killed in battle. “When the Nephite soldiers decided to attack the Lamanites first, Mormon refused to lead them in offensive war. This position was not only justified by earlier teachings of the prophets and the counsel of the Lord (see 3 Nephi 3:20–21; Alma 43:46; Alma 48:14), but was also vindicated by subsequent events: the Nephite armies began to be defeated from that time forth” (Ludlow, Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, 300).