Zerahemnah, cruel, relentless, and hardhearted, without a human sympathy, and that certainly without a divine one, listened impatiently to Moroni's words, and agreed only in part to them. He readily offered to surrender his sword and cimeter, his bows and arrows, as a token of surrender to Moroni, but he declined to take an oath unto Moroni, Zerahemnah said, "Which we know that we shall break." But he was willing to deliver up his weapons of war providing that his warriors were allowed to depart "into the wilderness, otherwise we will retain our swords, and we will perish or conquer."
The haughtiness which Zerahemnah displayed in answering Moroni's appeal for peace was characteristic of the victor, not the vanquished. He appeared contemptuously proud, or disdainful of the battle's outcome. He abjured the faith of the Nephites, and disclaimed Moroni's declaration that God "has delivered you into our hands." But your cunning in battle and your shields and breastplates have kept you from injury and destruction by us, he boldly asserted.