Alma chapter 13 is among my favorite chapters in all the Book of Mormon, if not all of scripture. Chapter 13 is the concluding second half of Alma’s patient words to the hostile Nehorites in the city of Ammonihah. Together, these profound chapters stand at the center of Alma’s horrific half-year experience there.
To see this discourse in its original historical context, here is a basic outline of "the words of Alma and also the words of Amulek" (Alma 9–14) and their subsequent outcomes (Alma 15–16):
A | Alma arrived in Ammonihah, warned them of their utter destruction, and was rejected (Alma 9). | |||
| B | Amulek received Alma into his house. Amulek converted and testified openly in Alma’s behalf (Alma 10). | ||
|
| C | Zeezrom tried to bribe Amulek, who withstood and silenced Zeezrom (Alma 11). | |
|
|
| D | Alma answered Zeezrom’s questions by explaining the creation, fall, God’s commandments, redemption, the resurrection, judgment, and the holy order of priests who help people repent and enter into God’s rest (Alma 12–13). |
|
| C | The people burned the women and children and imprisoned Alma and Amulek who escaped (Alma 14). | |
| B | Zeezrom was healed by Alma and Amulek in Sidom. They went to Alma’s house in Zarahemla (Alma 15). | ||
A | Ammonihah was utterly destroyed. Alma and Amulek were received throughout the land (Alma 16). | |||
At that point, the book of Alma reverts (in Alma 17) back to the account of the four sons of Mosiah beginning in the first year of the reign of the judges.