“They Began to Have Continual Peace Again”

Brant Gardner

Redaction: This verse is the structural conclusion to the preceding section. The next verse begins with “and now,” Mormon’s marker for new subjects. (See 1 Nephi, Part 1: Context, Chapter 5, “The Organization of the Plates.”) Mormon concludes his positive portrait of the Nephite church with the favorable statement that they “began to have continual peace again.” This statement described external affairs, since it certainly did not apply to Zarahemla’s internal climate. The city’s underlying differences did not go away. They lay smoldering under the surface, waiting for another incident to stir them again into civil strife, which Mormon describes next.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4

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