This verse contrasts to the vehement hatred that the father of Lamoni and his brother manifest when he met Alma on the road (Alma 20:13). The Lamanites had been steeped in a tradition of hatred and mistrust of all Nephites. The Spirit’s softening of their hearts not only had to convert them to Yahweh, but they also had to accept that conversion from missionaries whom they had been raised to believe were liars and usurpers. Conversion involved an essential change in their entire picture of the world—not only their religion (and therefore their science) but their entire concept of political and social reality. The transformation must have been wrenching. It is not surprising, then, that Lamoni’s brother identifies, as the first element in this great shift, a change in the status of Nephites—no longer mortal enemies but deliverers of Yahweh’s word.