In the closing paragraph of Chapter 10 we noted that when Zeniff died, he conferred the kingship upon his son, Noah. Noah reigned in his father's stead, but he was a dissolute fellow who proved to be a tyrant. Unlike his father, Zeniff, he did not guide his people according to God's commandments. He walked in darkness and sin, always pursuing that which satisfied his lusts or gratified the desires of a depraved heart. The history of his reign is a composite of crime and cruelty. It is one of the most perplexing sections of Nephite annals. As a people they had, more than once, been delivered by the Lord from the vengeance of Lamanite hatred and bloodthirstiness. They prospered when they kept the Laws of God; they grew in numbers, and the fat of the land sustained them. They were happy when they ate of the labor of their hands. They were a righteous people, and the Lord delivered them in the day of evil. Their paths were in the light when they heeded the voice of God's holy servants. The Church of God was established among them, and Zeniff had appointed priests to act in the ordinances of the Law of Moses, in which form of worship the Nephites were most zealous.
Human nature being as it is, the example set by wicked King Noah lured many of his people to forget the goodness of the Lord to their fathers and to follow him in evil practices. The king, who was also traditionally the spiritual leader of his subjects, replaced the good priests Zeniff had consecrated by others of his own ilk. He caused those with whom he associated to surround themselves, as he had done, with wives and concubines and encouraged his people to commit all "manner of wickedness."