20 And thus it did come to pass that the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land, and began to build up their waste places, and began to multiply and spread, even until they did ^acover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east.

  27 And behold, as they were crossing the river Sidon, the Lamanites and the Amlicites, being as ^anumerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea, came upon them to destroy them.

  24 And it came to pass that many means were devised to ^areclaim and restore the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth; but it all was ^bvain, for they delighted in ^cwars and ^dbloodshed, and they had an eternal ^ehatred against us, their brethren. And they sought by the power of their arms to destroy us continually.

  20 And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to ^arestore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our ^blabors were vain; their ^chatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a ^dblood-thirsty people, full of ^eidolatry and ^ffilthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in ^gtents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the ^hbow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us.

  24 For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the ^aincorrectness of the ^btraditions of their fathers, as ^cstiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the ^dshedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language.