Moroni and Moronihah are paired here just as in 3 Nephi 8:9–10, once again in the reverse parallel of sinking into water and of earth rising up. Since the Messiah’s address preceded the writing of 3 Nephi 8, he was the first to make this symbolic linking, which Nephi repeated in his account. Apparently, Nephi was preserving the literary image, not the specifics of the destruction, as his account in 3 Nephi 8 does not follow the rest of the doomed cities’ roll-call.