After Lamoni's father - king of all the Lamanites - was converted, he caused "that Aaron and his brethren should stand forth in the midst of the multitude, and they should preach the word unto them." (Alma 22:1-26.)
Thousands of Lamanites joined the church. These converts, making a commitment to peace, vowed to never take up arms, even in self-defense, and buried their swords. (Alma 24:13.) They became known as the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. (Alma 23:17.) But among the converts was only one Amalekite, and there were no Amulonites who joined the church. (Alma 23:14.) These two groups stirred up the Lamanites who were unconverted and, in a plan to kill the king and replace him with an unbeliever, the Lamanites, Amalekites and Amulonites marched to attack the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.Seeing the approaching soldiers, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies "went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them on the earth . . .[and] the Lamanites . . . began to slay them with the sword." (Alma 24:21.) After killing 1,005 (Alma 24:22), the Lamanites were "stung" (Alma 24:25) for the murders they had committed. They threw down their swords and repented.
The reason no Amalekites or Amulonites were among the repentant is given in Alma 24:30:
"And thus we can plainly discern that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things."
