Book of Mormon Population Statistics
By John A. Tvedtness

And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one. (Alma 3:26)

Readers of the Book of Mormon sometimes think of Nephite and Lamanite populations in terms of millions. In fact, only the Jaredites are ever said to have numbered in the “millions,” and only at the end of their history, when we read that nearly two million men had been slain with their families (Ether 15:2).

On the other hand, the Nephites and Lamanites, whose thousand-year history comprises most of the Book of Mormon (ca. 600 BC to AD 420) are described in terms of “thousands” or, at most, “tens of thousands.”

Critics use the unfounded “millions” concept to attack the Book of Mormon, noting that it would have been impossible for Lehi’s family to have grown to such large numbers in the timeframes specified in the Book of Mormon. They usually ignore or dismiss the evidence elicited by a number of Latter-day Saint scholars that the Nephites and Lamanites (and especially the latter) may have intermarried with native peoples of Asiatic origin already living in the New World. 1

Critics sometimes point to the thousands of people slain in some of the battles, and say that people just didn’t die in such high numbers during ancient battles. The Bible contradicts this idea. As early as the time of David, when the kingdom of Israel was just getting started, we read that David slew 22,000 Syrian soldiers and captured 27,000 (1 Chronicles 18:4-5). In a subsequent battle, David’s army slew 47,000 Syrians (1 Chronicles 19:18). His cousin Abishai is said to have led an Israelite force that slew 18,000 Edomites in battle (1 Chronicles 18:12).

One of David’s descendants, Abijah, king of Judah, waged war with the northern kingdom of Israel and slew 500,000 soldiers (2 Chronicles 13:17). Another Judean king, Amaziah, fought against the Edomites of Seir and slew 10,000 of them and carried away the same number of prisoners, whom they cast over a cliff (2 Chronicles 25:11-12; 2 Kings 14:7).

In a battle with Syria, the Israelites slew 100,000 footmen “in one day” (1 Kings 20:29). During a subsequent war, Pekah, king of Israel, slew 120,000 Jews “in one day” and took some 200,000 “women, sons, and daughters” captive (2 Chronicles 28:6, 8).

Compared to figures such as these, the loss of life in the Nephite-Lamanite wars is small until one comes to the last battle at Cumorah. Indeed, the population figures given in the Book of Mormon show a rather gradual population growth over the years. There are no statistics for the earlier centuries, with only vague suggestions, while the term “thousands” does not appear in the Nephite record until the second century BC, by which time Lehi’s colony had been in the land for some four centuries.

Words like “many” and “numerous” are rather vague and are not easily quantified. 2 Jacob wrote that “a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates” (Jacob 3:13), but it is unclear whether the people were numerous or their proceedings. Because he was discussing the lack of space on the plates, it is more likely that he was referring to the events that took place among the Nephites of his day.

The word “multitude” is also generally unquantifiable. In some cases, it denotes a group small enough to witness something or to hear someone speak to them, 3 though in one case the “multitude” could not all hear King Benjamin’s words (Mosiah 2:7-9). In another case, the “multitude” is said to have comprised only 300 people (Helaman 5:37, 49). The “multitude” addressed by Christ in the city of Bountiful 4 numbered 2,500 men, women, and children (3 Nephi 17:25), and all of them were able to hear his teachings. On the following day, the multitude was much larger because people assembled from surrounding towns.

Terms like “hundred(s)” and “thousand(s)” are more readily countable. The following table lists the uses of these and a few other terms in the Book of Mormon. The list is in chronological order, which can enable us to visualize population growth, if not in actual terms, at least in the number of people who participated either in battle or in conversion to the Nephite religion. In none of these instances can one make a case for millions of people calling themselves Nephites or Lamanites.

before ca.
570 BC

Nephi made “many swords” so his people could defend themselves against the Lamanites (2 Nephi 5:14). We do not know what “many” means in this instance, but since they were manufactured by but one man less than 30 years after Lehi’s group arrived in the New World, the number of such weapons cannot have been in the hundreds and perhaps only a couple of dozen. This is the only passage that suggests that the Nephites used swords patterned after that of Laban, which Nephi had brought from Jerusalem.

before ca.
420 BC

Enos wrote that “there were exceedingly many prophets among us” (Enos 1:22). We cannot know what this meant to this second and third generation of Nephites, but it suggests that their numbers had grown. By the next generation, Jarom confirmed that “there are many among us who have many revelations” (Jarom 1:4).

ca. 420 BC

The Nephites “were scattered upon much of the face of the land, and the Lamanites also. And they were exceedingly more numerous than were they of the Nephites . . . [but] we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance. And we multiplied exceedingly, and spread upon the face of the land” (Jarom 1:6-8). The term “cities” misleads some readers because they think in terms of modern cities. In the ancient Near East, cities had thousands of inhabitants, rarely tens of thousands, and we presume that the same was true among Lehi’s posterity.

between ca. 361-323 BC

Omni noted that “we had many seasons of serious war and bloodshed,” but does not tell us how many people participated in the battles or how many were slain in battle (Omni 1:3).

between ca. 279-130 BC

Abimadom recorded, “I saw much war and contention between my people, the Nephites, and the Lamanites; and I, with my own sword, have taken the lives of many of the Lamanites in the defence of my brethren” (Omni 1:10).

between ca. 279-130 BC

Mosiah 1 led a group of Nephites from the land of Nephi to the land of Zarahemla, where they joined with the people of that region, who, by that time, “had become exceedingly numerous” despite the fact that “they had had many wars and serious contentions” (Omni 1:12-19). From elsewhere, we learn that these “Mulekites,” as we have come to call them, descended from a colony that included or was led by one Mulek, son of Zedekiah, king of Judah, who reigned at the time Lehi left Jerusalem (Mosiah 25:2; Helaman 6:10; 8:21). They had, therefore, been in the land about the same amount of time as Lehi’s descendants. We do not know the size of the original Mulekite colony, but it may have included many more than Lehi’s group and they may have intermarried with native peoples and even Jaredites over the centuries prior to Mosiah’s arrival in their land. 5

ca. 187 BC

The Nephites under Zeniff were attacked by “a numerous host of Lamanites (Mosiah 9:14), but managed, in a day and a night, to slay 3,043 Lamanites and lost 279 of their own men, which caused “great sorrow and lamentation” among the Nephites. The fact that the king had to help bury the dead with his own hands hints that the Nephite population in the land of Nephi (where they possessed the cities of Shilom and Lehi-Nephi) was rather small (Mosiah 9:18-19). In a subsequent battle, involving “numerous hosts” of Lamanites (Mosiah 10:8), the Nephites again drove back the Lamanites and slew “so many that we did not number them” (Mosiah 10:20). Following a few more brief wars in the next two generations, King Limhi declared, “great are the reasons which we have to mourn; for behold how many of our brethren have been slain” (Mosiah 7:24).

ca. 147 BC

“Many” believed the message taught by Alma 1 and “a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon,” where he baptized 204 people (Mosiah 18:3-7, 16). By the time this group of believers fled the land of Nephi, they numbered about 450 (Mosiah 18:35). Assuming that this number included children and that the average family consisted of a man, his wife, and two children, along with a few elderly, there could have been no more than a hundred able-bodied men in the group. Yet the loss of this number resulted in the reduction of men for king Noah’s army (“the forces of the king were small, having been reduced”) (Mosiah 19:1-2). The loss had not come by war, for Noah had not had any battles with the Lamanites, as did his father Zeniff. Subsequent to the departure of Alma’s group, the people of Noah were defeated in battle by the Lamanites and Noah’s son Limhi became king (Mosiah 19:6-16).

between ca. 145 & 122 BC

When the Lamanites, angered at the taking of 24 of their young women (by the priests of Noah, though the Lamanites thought it was Limhi’s people), attacked, Limhi’s forces, though not half the number of the attacking Lamanites (Mosiah 20:11) managed to win the engagement, though they submitted themselves to Lamanite rule. After suffering increasing indignities from their oppressors, the Nephites attacked the Lamanites but were driven back each time (Mosiah 20:6-8). At this point, we learn that “there was a great mourning and lamentation among the people of Limhi, the widow mourning for her husband, the son and the daughter mourning for their father, and the brothers for their brethren. Now there were a great many widows in the land” (Mosiah 20:9-10; see also vs. 29). The cry of the widows caused the Nephites, who were giving half their produce to the Lamanites, to go against them two more times, but they were again driven back (Mosiah 21:11-12). At this point, we read that “there was a great number of women, more than there was of men,” causing Limhi to command “that every man should impart to the support of the widows and their children, that they might not perish with hunger; and this they did because of the greatness of their number that had been slain” (Mosiah 21:17). “Now the people of Limhi kept together in a body as much as it was possible, and secured their grain and their flocks” (Mosiah 21:18). Obviously, they were in a small space. In Mosiah 21:19, we read that their city was walled.

before ca.
130 BC

Led by king Benjamin, the Nephites of Zarahemla slew “many thousands of the Lamanites” (Words of Mormon 1:14). In King Benjamin’s day, there were “many dissensions away unto the Lamanites” (Words of Mormon 1:16) and “there were many holy men in the land” (Words of Mormon 1:17).

Ca. 130 BC

When the people assembled to the temple in Zarahemla to hear King Benjamin, “there were a great number, even so many that they did not number them” (Mosiah 2:2). Even when the king spoke from a tower, “they could not all hear his words because of the greatness of the multitude; therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice” (Mosiah 2:8).

ca. 122 BC

Limhi told Ammon that he had sent 43 people to find the city of Zarahemla (Mosiah 8:7). Mormon, writing his abridgement more than 500 years later, considered this to be “a small number of men” (Mosiah 21:25). Because the Lamanites were so “numerous,” the people of Limhi, aided by Ammon and those who had come with him from Zarahemla, decided to escape rather than risk another battle (Mosiah 22:2; cf. 24:3).

ca. 120 BC

Even after the arrival of the Limhi and Alma groups from the land of Nephi, the Mulekites (people of Zarahemla) outnumbered the Nephites under Mosiah’s rule and the combined population of the two peoples was not half the number of the Lamanites (Mosiah 25:2-3).

ca. 120 BC

Under Mosiah 2 and Alma 1 , there were seven churches in the land of Zarahemla. If they followed Alma’s earlier pattern of organizing the people into groups of fifty, with a priest over each (Mosiah 18:18-26), this means that the total number of church members in Zarahemla was only 350. This is an impossibly small number, since Alma had brought 450 people with him out of Nephi (Mosiah 18:35). If, however, the words “every fifty of their number” referred only to heads of families, then the number would have been larger. With small families of only two children, plus elderly people without children at home, this would give a total membership of perhaps 2,000 to the churches in Zarahemla-comparable to a very small stake today, with seven wards of 200 members each. Even with 1,000 people in each church unit, that would give us 7,000 total. Though the church membership in Zarahemla could have been much more than this, it is hard to imagine tens of thousands of people assembling in only seven groups, given that it would be difficult for very large groups to hear the priests teach. The number of those who did not belong to the church was less than half the number of the believers (Mosiah 26:5).

Prob. bet. ca. 100-92 BC

During this time period, the Nephites “began to be very numerous, and began to scatter abroad upon the face of the earth, yea, on the north and on the south, on the east and on the west, building large cities and villages in all quarters of the land” (Mosiah 27:6). The “land” in question comprised only the area in which the Nephites lived, not territories occupied by others.

ca. 87 BC

The Nephites (which would include the Mulekites), under their judge Alma 2 , slew 12,532 Amlicite dissenters in battle and lost 6,562 of their own men (Alma 2:19). Joining with a “numerous host of the Lamanites,” the enemy became “as numerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea,” being “so numerous that they could not be numbered” (Alma 2:24, 27, 35). Many of them were slain, along with many Nephites (“now the number of the slain were not numbered, because of the greatness of their number”). Among the Nephites “many women and children had been slain with the sword, and also many of their flocks and their herds; and also many of their fields of grain were destroyed, for they were trodden down by the hosts of men” (Alma 3:1-3).

ca. 87 BC

Not long after the Amlicite war, “a numerous army against them” and the Nephites “slew many of the Lamanites, and drove the remainder of them out of the borders of their land” (Alma 3:23). We read that “thousands and tens of thousands” perished (Alma 3:26), though the number may have included those who died in the Amlicite war that same year. By this time, the Nephite people included those in other cities, as we learn from Alma’s travels recorded in Alma 5-8, where the cities Gideon, Melek, Aaron, and Ammonihah are named. We do not know how many of them may have been converted from the ranks of other native peoples.

ca. 85 BC

3,500 Nephites converted to the church (Alma 4:5).

ca. 81 BC

Alma established a church in the land of Sidom, “And it came to pass that they were many; for they did flock in from all the region round about Sidom, and were baptized” (Alma 15:13-14).

between ca, 90 & 77 BC

“Many thousands” of Lamanites were converted by the sons of Mosiah during their 14-year mission (Alma 17:4; 19:35; 23:5; 25:13; 26:3-4, 13, 22, 31; 37:9, 19). Attacking Lamanites slew 1,005 of these people, who declined to resist (Alma 24:22), but more than that number of their attackers joined them (Alma 24:26-27; 26:34). These people, called children of Ammon, came to live among the Nephites and were given the land of Jershon.

ca. 76 BC

In battle, tens of thousands of Lamanites were slain and scattered, and there was “a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi” (Alma 28:2-5). Alma summarized that, during the first fifteen years of the judges, “many thousands” died in battle (Alma 28:10-12). This number evidently included the dead among those converted by the sons of Mosiah.

ca. 74 BC

Many of the Zoramites were converted and were expelled by their brethren and came to live in the land of Jershon with the people of Ammon (Alma 35:6, 14).

ca. 74 BC

Thousands of Lamanites attacked the Zoramite city of Antionum (Alma 43:4-5), then massed for an attack on other Nephite cities. In a fierce battle in the land of Manti, “many of the Nephites were slain by their hands” (Alma 43:44). The Lamanites had been joined by many Nephite dissenters (“Amalekites and Zoramites, and the descendants of the priests of Noah”), whose “descendants were as numerous, nearly, as were the Nephites” (Alma 43:13-14). Because of this, the Lamanites were twice as numerous as the Nephites (Alma 43:51).

ca. 73 BC

The followers of Amalickiah, who dissented from the Nephites, were fewer in number than the army of Moroni, who came to put down their rebellion because he did not want the Lamanites to gain more strength (Alma 46:29-30).

ca. 72 BC

Amalickiah, becoming king of the Lamanites, sent “a numerous host to go to battle against the Nephites” (Alma 48:3). When they attacked the city of Noah, more than 1,000 were slain. The Nephites lost no men, though about 50 were wounded (Alma 49:23-24).

ca. 67 BC

Because of his losses, when Amalickiah sent Lamanite armies against the Nephites five years later, they “were not so great as they had hitherto been, because of the many thousands who had been slain by the hand of the Nephites; but notwithstanding their great loss, Amalickiah had gathered together a wonderfully great army” (Alma 51:11-12), “numberless hosts” of men (Alma 51:27). The king-men, encouraged by the Lamanite invasion, revolted against the Nephite government and lost 4,000 in the struggle that ensued (Alma 51:19).

ca. 64 BC

Helaman assembled a group of 2,000 of the children of Ammon (the Lamanites converted by the sons of Mosiah) into an army. They represented all of the young men (now at least 20 years of age) who had been under the age of accountability when their parents and elder siblings had taken the oath to not wage war (Alma 56:3, 27, 49-50, 52; 57:19-20, 25-26). 6 The 2,000 “sons” of Helaman were considered to be a “great support” to the Nephites on the western front (Alma 53:18-19; 56:9-10). After Helaman’s 2,000 and another 2,000 men from the land of Zarahemla had arrived, the total of Antipus’s forces was 10,000 (Alma 56:28). With this force, he and Helaman surrounded a Lamanite army (Alma 56:54).

ca. 63 BC

Helaman was joined by another 6,000 men from Zarahemla and 60 more young Ammonites (Alma 57:6). This enabled him to take the city of Cumeni. By now, the prisoners of war from this and the previous battle were sufficiently “numerous” that some 2,000 of them were slain during revolts against their Nephite captors (Alma 57:11-14).

ca. 63 BC

Some 200 of Helaman’s 2,060 stripling warriors were seriously wounded, but none of them died, which seemed miraculous to the rest of his army, 1,000 of whom were slain (Alma 57:25-26).

ca. 63 BC

Though Helaman received another 2,000 reinforcements from Zarahemla, he considered the Lamanite host to be “innumerable” (Alma 58:8-9). In his report to Moroni, he noted how “numerous” the Lamanite armies were (Alma 57:17; 58:2, 15, 18) and wrote that he knew that the Nephites who could have been sent to assist were more “numerous” than the reinforcements he had received (Alma 58:36). Moroni, too, noted how “numerous” the Lamanite armies were (Alma 59:7-8).

ca. 62 BC

Chief captain Moroni complained to the governor, Pahoran, that thousands of Nephites had been slain in battle (Alma 60:5, 7-8, 10). While thousands were “falling by the sword” on the borders, “tens of thousands” remained at home (Alma 60:22). Learning that Pahoran was also in dire straits (having been expelled by a “numerous” group of rebels (Alma 61:3), Moroni left most of his troops with Lehi and Teancum and marched against the army of the rebel leader Pachus, gathering thousands more to his standard. Uniting his army with that of Pahoran enabled them to outnumber those of Pachus, whom they then defeated (Alma 62:5-6).

ca. 61 BC

Moroni sent 6,000 men to Helaman and another 6,000 to Lehi and Teancum, but still was able to leave a large body of men in Zarahemla and to march with Pahoran and another large body of men to retake the city of Nephihah (Alma 62:12-14). In addition to the slain, they took 4,000 prisoners during that campaign and sent them to live with the children of Ammon (Alma 62:17), as they did with many of the Lamanites subsequently captured (Alma 62:27-29).

ca. 61 BC

Upon Moroni’s taking of the city of Nephihah, the number of Lamanite soldiers captured “did reduce the armies of the Lamanites exceedingly,” while regaining “many of the Nephites who had been taken prisoners . . . did strengthen the army of Moroni exceedingly” (Alma 62:30).

ca. 55 BC

5,400 men took their families from the land of Zarahemla into the land northward (Alma 63:4). We do not know if this included the “many of the Nephites” who sailed to the same region in one of Hagoth’s ships (Alma 63:5-6).

ca. 54 BC

“Many more people” sailed away as Hagoth “built other ships. And the first ship did also return, and many more people did enter into it; and they also took much provisions, and set out again to the land northward. And it came to pass that they were never heard of more. And we suppose that they were drowned in the depths of the sea. And it came to pass that one other ship also did sail forth; and whither she did go we know not. And it came to pass that in this year there were many people who went forth into the land northward” (Alma 63:7-9).

ca. 53 BC

At least one more ship sailed to the land northward, carrying provisions to those who had already gone, and possibly transporting more passengers (Alma 63:10).

ca. 53 BC

The Lamanites “came down with a numerous army to war against the [Nephites], in the which they were beaten and driven back again to their own lands, suffering great loss” (Alma 63:15).

ca. 51 BC

A “numerous” Lamanite army led by one Coriantumr invaded Nephite territory, “slaying the people with a great slaughter, both men, women, and children, taking possession of many cities and of many strongholds.” The Nephites attacked them, leading to “an exceedingly bloody battle; yea, many were slain” (Helaman 1:19, 27-30).

ca. 46 BC

“Many of the people of Ammon, who were Lamanites by birth” moved to the land northward (Helaman 3:12).

ca. 43 BC

“Tens of thousands” of people joined the church, a number that “astonished” church leaders (Helaman 3:24-26).

bet. ca.
35-30 BC

Nephite dissenters, “with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites,” managed to take all Nephite lands in the land southward, but the Nephites retaliated and took back half of those lands (Helaman 4:4-10). Nephite population in the south had been reduced by migrations into the land northward. The Lamanites were so “numerous” that the Nephites were able to only maintain the lands they had retaken (Helaman 4:19, 25).

ca. 30 BC

Through the efforts of Helaman’s sons Lehi and Nephi, 8,000 Lamanites in the Zarahemla area joined the church (Helaman 5:19).

ca. 30 BC

There were 300 people in the Lamanite prison in the land of Nephi at the time Lehi and Nephi were divinely rescued (Helaman 5:49).

ca. 29 BC

“Many of the Lamanites did go into the land northward” (Helaman 6:6).

ca. 17 BC

Following battles with the Gadianton band, both Nephites and Lamanites “did perish by thousands in the more wicked parts of the land” (Helaman 11:1-6).

ca. AD 13

The Gadianton robbers “had become so numerous, and did slay so many of the people, and did lay waste so many cities, and did spread so much death and carnage throughout the land, that it became expedient that all the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, should take up arms against them” (3 Nephi 2:11).

ca. AD 17

Under threat from the robbers, tens of thousands of Nephites gathered for defense in one region (3 Nephi 3:22, 24). Evidently comprising all of the loyal Nephite population, the figure also included some Lamanites (3 Nephi 3:13-14).

ca. AD 21

Nephite sorties “cut off” (slew? slew and captured?) tens of thousands of starving robbers (3 Nephi 4:19-21). During the ensuing battle, the Nephites took many thousands of prisoners and slew the rest (3 Nephi 4:27).

ca. AD 30

The Gadianton band were severely outnumbered by the tribes who had combined to fight against them, forcing the group to move away to the north (3 Nephi 7:12).

ca. AD 34

An uncounted number of people (Lamanites, Nephites, Gadiantons) died in the cataclysms that accompanied the crucifixion of Christ in distant Palestine (3 Nephi 8-10).

ca. AD 34

Some 2,500 men, women, and children saw and heard the resurrected Christ in the city Bountiful during his first visit (3 Nephi 17:25). Because of the large multitude that arrived the next day from surrounding towns, it was necessary to split them into twelve groups, each taught by one of the twelve disciples (3 Nephi 19:1-6).

after AD 34

There followed two centuries of peace, after which the people began to reclaim the old tribal affiliations, which eventually led to wars between Nephites and Lamanites.

ca. AD 322

Mormon reported of the land southward that “The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea” (Mormon 1:7). The population expansion was probably due to the lack of war following the coming of Christ.

ca. AD 322

A Nephite army of more than 30,000 held back a Lamanite attack in the borders of Zarahemla and many Lamanites were killed (Mormon 1:10-11).

ca. AD 330

A Nephite army of 42,000 drove back a Lamanite army of 44,000 (Mormon 2:9).

ca. AD 344

In a battle with the Lamanites, thousands of Nephites were slain (Mormon 2:15).

ca. AD 346

30,000 Nephite soldiers held back 50,000 Lamanites (Mormon 2:25).

ca. AD 363-364

In renewed battles over the cities of Desolation and Teancum, thousands died on both Nephite and Lamanite sides and the Lamanites took many Nephite prisoners, sacrificing many of them (Mormon 4:2, 9, 14). About this time, Nephites and Lamanites alike were slaying women and children (Moroni 9:7-9, 16-17). Many Nephites deserted to the Lamanites (Moroni 9:24).

ca. AD 367

A Lamanite force outnumbering that of the Nephites took the city Desolation (Mormon 4:15).

ca. AD 385

23 groups of 10,000 Nephites each were slain at the battle of Cumorah, with only 24 surviving, though others had dissented to the Lamanites or fled southward (Mormon 6:11-15). From Mormon’s lament (Mormon 6:19), one has the impression that this number included women and children. This is the last battle of which we have record in the Book of Mormon, though Moroni noted that there continued to be wars among the Lamanites, who slew any Nephites they encountered (Moroni 1:1-2).

Prior to the time of Mormon, the largest numbered army in the Book of Mormon comprised 10,000 soldiers, in the time of Helaman. Only during the last Nephite-Lamanite wars do we read of armies numbering 30,000 and more. It is possible that some of the earlier “numerous hosts” comprised tens of thousands of men, but this cannot be ascertained from the information given. In no case is there any evidence of “millions” of either Nephites or Lamanites.


Notes

1 See John L. Sorenson, ” When Lehi’s Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There?” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1/1 (1992); Matthew Roper, “Nephi’s Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations,” FARMS Review 15/2 (2003); John A. Tvedtnes, “Idolatry in the Book of Mormon,” posted on the Meridian Magazine web site at https://www.meridianmagazine.com/ancients/041117Idolatry.html . Some of the Book of Mormon evidence for other peoples has yet to be published.

2 The Nephite king Zeniff wrote of living in the land “for many years, yea, for the space of twenty and two years” (Mosiah 10:3), suggesting that the term does not denote hundreds or thousands (see also Mosiah 10:18). One must also bear in mind that hyperbole was common in the ancient world.

3 Jacob 7:17, 21; Mosiah 8:2-4; 27:21; Alma 12:2; 19:18, 24; 22:24-26;. 32:4-7; 35:1; Helaman 7:11-13; 10:17.

4 3 Nephi 11:1, 8, 12, 15, 18; 12:1; 14:1; 15:1; 17:1, 5, 9-13, 15, 18, 21, 23; 18:2, 4-5, 8-9, 17, 37-38; 19:1-2.

5 The preservation of Jaredite names among later Nephites suggests that there were Jaredite survivors. See the discussion in John A. Tvedtnes, “A Phonemic Analysis of Nephite and Jaredite Proper Names,” Newsletter and Proceedings of the SEHA No. 141 (December 1977), posted on the Ancient America Foundation web site at https://ancientamerica.org/library/media/HTML/
qx6x4fwp/A%20PHONEMIC%20ANALYSIS%20OF%20NEPHITE%20
AND%20JAREDITE%20PROPER%20NAMES.htm?n=0
.

6 See the discussion in John A. Tvedtnes, I Have a Question: “What Were the Ages of Helaman’s ‘Stripling Warriors’?” The Ensign , September 1992.

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