The famished Nephites were the people who suffered a famine that the prophet Nephi requested of the Lord. In the seventy-second year of the reign of the judges, wars carried on by a secret band of robbers spread throughout the land (Helaman 11:1-2). Rather than let the people be destroyed by the sword, Nephi prayed that the Lord send a famine instead, to stir them to remember their God and perhaps repent (Helaman 11:3-4). The famine came, and the destruction by the sword ceased but grew severe by hunger; the earth yielded no grain, and people in the more wicked parts of the land died by the thousands, among the Lamanites as well as the Nephites (Helaman 11:5-6).
As they were about to perish, the people began to remember the Lord and the words of Nephi (Helaman 11:7). They pleaded with their chief judges and leaders to ask Nephi, whom they called a man of God, to pray that the Lord turn the famine away, lest his words about their destruction be fulfilled (Helaman 11:8). The judges relayed the request, and when Nephi saw the people humble themselves in sackcloth he prayed again for the famine to cease (Helaman 11:9-16). In the seventy-sixth year the Lord sent rain and the earth brought forth fruit and grain; the people rejoiced, no longer sought to destroy Nephi, and esteemed him a great prophet (Helaman 11:17-18).