Text: Mormon had ended his record of the seventy-first year with the announcement of “contentions” over Nephi’s preaching so keen that they “began to slay one another with the sword” (Hel. 10:18). This chapter, the seventy-second year, opens with increasing “contentions.” Although the events in these two verses are obviously closely related, Mormon used the year marker as a convenient place to break his narrative. I hypothesize that the Messiah’s rapidly approaching advent gives him another reason to stress the passage of time. Although the events in this chapter were caused by Nephi’s prophecy and preaching, the focus is on the events that begin to fulfill the prophecies of destruction.