Helaman’s father, Alma, passed from the earth in the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges. Helaman followed in the thirty-fifth year. His age is not given, but he survived his father for fifteen or sixteen years. Since Helaman could have been born when Alma was in his early twenties, this age span is not unreasonable. Helaman had fought battles up to five years before his death and actively preached in the intervening years.
Chronology: The thirty-fifth year of the reign of the judges would be approximate 59 B.C.
Text: Mormon’s chapter ends because the story he has been telling—how Yahweh will preserve the faithful—has ended. He writes a final chapter that finishes the formal record of the book of Alma.