The prophecy of Samuel the (Lamanite) Prophet was the curse that he had said would come upon the land, or the treasures becoming slippery (see Helaman 12:18; 13:13–23). The atrocities mentioned by Mormon above were what contributed to the treasuries becoming slippery. The Nephites lamenting more than the Lamanites (Mormon 2:11) was probably because the Lamanites had broken away earlier, and therefore were more used to those conditions. Mormon’s hope for mercy for his people (v. 12) was short-lived. Mormon’s observation that the Lord would not allow “them to take happiness in sin” (v. 13) was what Alma had taught his son Corianton; a person could not “be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). The sorrowing of the damned (Mormon 2:13) was the same distinction the Apostle Paul made to the Corinthians between godly sorrow and the sin of the world.
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. [2 Corinthians 7:9–10]
Mormon defined true repentance as coming “unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits” (Mormon 2:14). One’s heart is broken in God by sorrow because of the growing knowledge that he or she has caused Jesus to suffer in Gethsemane, as well as others. A contrite spirit is the condition of seeking to be taught how to make restitution for one’s sins. Mormon also defined worldly sorrow. The wicked cursed God and wished to die, but struggled to survive (v. 14). Mormon later described it as “that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked” (Mormon 6:7).
The day of grace passing temporally (Mormon 2:15) is shown in their being filled with the desire to kill, or “drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine” (Ether 15:22). The day of grace passing spiritually (Mormon 2:15) occurs when the Spirit is totally withdrawn from them, and the devil has power over them. In the words of Samuel the Lamanite:
37 Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.
38 But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head. [Helaman 13:37–38]
The Nephites were following the pattern of the Jaredites before them. They killed without burying their dead, and fought to their extermination (v. 15; see Ether 14:22).