Editing Zarahemla (section)

==Narrative==
{{Religious text primary|date=October 2011|section}}
When the Nephite king [[King Mosiah I|Mosiah]] leads Nephite refugees, in response to divine direction, out from the land of Nephi, they encounter a city inhabited by a people called the "people of Zarahemla", the name of their ruler, in a place called the "land of Zarahemla".<ref name=":1" /> Zarahemla is identified as a descendant of Mulek, narrated to be a son of the biblical king Zedekiah; Mulek

According to the Book of Mormon, the [[Nephite]] [[King Mosiah I|Mosiah]] and his followers "discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon" (about 587 B.C.).<ref>{{Mormonverse|Omni|1:14-15}}</ref> The people descended from a group led by Mulek, a son of the biblical king Zedekiah, who left Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian conquest and also crossed the ocean and arrived at the same continent as the party led by Lehi.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Sorensen|1992}}.</ref> The book of Omni in the Book of Mormon tells how Zarahemla and his people came to settle the land of Zarahemla in the New World. Mosiah and his refugee people presumably united with the people of Zarahemla sometime between 279 and 130 B.C. "Mosiah was appointed to be their king."<ref>{{Mormonverse|Omni|1:19}}</ref> Mosiah thereafter presided in the land of Zarahemla over a people called collectively "the Nephites". The '''Land of Zarahemla''' was the [[Nephite]] capital for many years.

Notable Book of Mormon descendants of the leader Zarahemla include Ammon the venturer and [[Coriantumr (Nephite Dissenter)|Coriantumr]] the dissenter. Ammon led a quest in search of a colony that had left the land of Zarahemla in order to resettle a city named Lehi-Nephi.<ref>{{Mormonverse|Mosiah|7:1-3}}</ref> The dissenter [[Coriantumr (Nephite Dissenter)|Coriantumr]] led the [[Lamanites]] in battle against the Nephites in the first century B.C.<ref>{{Mormonverse|Helaman|1:15}}</ref>

At some point before Mosiah discovered Zarahemla, the people of Zarahemla had discovered [[Coriantumr (Last Jaredite King)|Coriantumr]] (not to be confused with the later Nephite dissenter of the same name). According to the Book of Mormon, Coriantumr was the last of a destroyed nation called the [[Jaredites]]. Coriantumr stayed with the people of Zarahemla "for the space of nine moons" ({{Mormonverse|Omni|1:21}}) before dying and being buried by them ({{Mormonverse|Omni|13:21}}).

Benjamin succeeded his father Mosiah as the second Nephite king of Zarahemla. [[King Benjamin]] was victorious in driving [[Lamanites]] enemies from the Zarahemla region.<ref>{{Mormonverse|Omni|1|24}}</ref>

At the time of the crucifixion of [[Christ]], the Book of Mormon records that "there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land. And the city of Zarahemla did take fire."<ref>{{Mormonverse|3 Nephi|8:7-8}}</ref>  "And it came to pass that there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of the earth ... 'because of their iniquity and abominations ... that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof ... I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God.'" (3 Nephi, 9: 1, 2, 3, 15.)  The Book of Mormon indicates that "the great city of Zarahemla" was rebuilt sometime in the first century A.D.<ref>{{Mormonverse|4 Nephi|1:7-8}}</ref> As his doomed nation retreated northward from their enemies, the 4th century prophet and historian [[Mormon (Book of Mormon)|Mormon]] recorded that Nephite "towns, and villages, and cities were burned with fire."<ref>{{Mormonverse|Mormon|5:5}}</ref> The Book of Mormon does not indicate whether the city of Zarahemla survived to be occupied by Lamanites after the destruction of the Nephite nation.