Mormon knew of Yahweh’s promise to Mosiah: “And king Mosiah went and inquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word. And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites” (Mosiah 28:6–7). While Mormon interprets this promise as a protective shield for Ammon (Alma 19:23), nothing in the record indicates that Ammon also knew of the promise. Even if he had, Ammon would certainly not have been so foolhardy as to deliberately place himself in harm’s way.
Furthermore, it seems improbable that the original record recorded the attackers’ thoughts. Therefore, Ammon must have deduced this part of the story, since the only factually verifiable point is that they outnumbered Ammon.
Variant: In the printer’s manuscript and the 1830 edition, the ending of verse 34 read: “not in number a very few.” This wording was altered to the current reading in the corrections on the printer’s manuscript, first published in 1837.