Moroni and his army had not taken women and children as prisoners (nor would it have been possible them to do so, seeing that the invading Lamanite armies were surely mostly composed of men); but Ammoron and his troops had. Ammoron now wanted to use them as bargaining chips (keeping them would have been costly and burdensome) and accordingly had requested a trade of prisoners, presumably offering the women and children for captured soldiers (obviously he would have wanted more men to fight in his ranks and fewer Nephite prisoners to feed). Moroni, obviously liked that idea, for the same military reason. However, Moroni was very strategic in his answer. He called Ammoron to repentance for waging the war, warning him of the consequences of his evil designs and effectively for his mistreatment of women and children. Moroni’s terms for the exchange required Ammoron to withdraw his purposes, go back to the Land of Nephi in the south and stop the war (v. 10). He also required the prisoner exchange to consist of one man and his wife and children from the Lamanites for every man to be released by the Nephites (v. 11). Capturing women and children was allowed under Israelite law, but they had to be treated humanely and taken in as family members (Deuteronomy 21:10–14). The Lamanites were breaking those laws.