Book of Mormon Geography represented by water and terrain

Book of Mormon

Geography

III Nephi Travel Maps



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Map 1 (Nephites gather to the one place)
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Nephites gather to the one place on an internal map


Verses    up to the internal map  down to the world map

3 Nephi 2:17 Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people that they should gather together their women, and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all their substance, save it were their land, unto one place.

3 Nephi 2:18 And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, and the strength thereof should be exceeding great.

3 Nephi 2:19 And he caused that there should be armies, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites, or of all them who were numbered among the Nephites, should be placed as guards round about, to watch them, and to guard them from the robbers, day and night;

3 Nephi 2:20 Yea, he said unto them, As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, that they could in no wise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers.

3 Nephi 2:21 And so great and marvelous were the words and prophecies of Lachoneus, that they did cause fear to come upon all the people, and they did exert themselves in their might, to do according to the words of Lachoneus.

3 Nephi 2:22 And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chief captains over all the armies of the Nephites, to command them at the time that the robbers should come down out of the wilderness against them.

3 Nephi 2:23 Now the chiefest among all the chief captains, and the great commander of all the armies of the Nephites, was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni.

3 Nephi 2:24 Now it was the custom among all the Nephites, to appoint for their chief captains, save it were in their times of wickedness, some one that had the spirit of revelation, and also prophecy; therefore this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, and also was the chief judge.

3 Nephi 2:25 Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni, Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains, and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them, in their own lands.

3 Nephi 2:26 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them, The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them, the Lord would deliver us into their hands;

3 Nephi 2:27 Therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us;

3 Nephi 2:28 Therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this, he will deliver them into our hands.

3 Nephi 2:29 And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land,

3 Nephi 2:30 And they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance,

3 Nephi 2:31 And did march forth by thousands; and by tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been appointed, that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies.

3 Nephi 2:32 And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla and the land which was between the land of Zarahemla and the land Bountiful; yea, to the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation;

3 Nephi 2:33 And there were a great many thousand people who were called Nephites, who did gather themselves together in this land.

3 Nephi 2:34 Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together in the land southward, because of the great curse which was upon the land northward; and they did fortify themselves against their enemies;

3 Nephi 2:35 And they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did repent of all their sins;



World Location    up to verses  down to commentary

Nephites gather to the one place on a world map


Commentary    up to world map

The land which was appointed was between Zarahemla and "the land Bountiful; yea, to the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation." The "yea" in this phrase indicates that it was not the land Bountiful, but the line between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation (see Discoveries). If a line is drawn between Zarahemla and the line between Bountiful and Desolation, the mid-point is exactly on the Grajalva River valley. This river valley is referred to as the land southward in the other places in the Book of Mormon. It's interesting that the description uses a line between two lands and not either one of the two lands. As exact as the wording is in the Book of Mormon, there was a purpose for using the line in the description. The location for this one place is never given a name, nor is it a land that has been named before in the Book of Mormon (where an existing fortification could be used). This is consistent with this world location where there are no named cities in the Grajalva river valley.