The Spirit overpowered everyone in the room but one woman (v. 16). This tremendous spiritual event has begun by Lamoni’s awakening and his declaration (v. 13) that he has seen the Messiah. Then everyone is overcome—not an unusual effect of the Spirit and certainly one with which Joseph was familiar. (See commentary accompanying Alma 18:43.)
The communication between the king and a god was an expectation of later Maya kings. Nevertheless, this experience with Ammon’s God transcended any other experience that Lamoni might have had, awakening the faith and spiritual feelings of all in the room.
Variant: The printer’s manuscript and the 1830 edition have a slight variation in verse 14. It read: “… because of their iniquities and their traditions and Ammon fell upon his knees.” This was changed to “Ammon he” in the corrections to the printer’s manuscript. It became the current “he” in 1837.