It is instructive that the cities destroyed had no righteous left among the inhabitants, the righteous having been slain or expelled. This is a divine principle—that the wicked are sometimes spared because of the presence of the righteous among them. But if the righteous are no longer on scene, then the wicked are ripened for the administration of divine justice, including overwhelming destruction. Amulek declared to the wicked people of Ammonihah: “But it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared; now therefore, if ye will cast out the righteous from among you then will not the Lord stay his hand; but in his fierce anger he will come out against you; then ye shall be smitten by famine, and by pestilence, and by the sword; and the time is soon at hand except ye repent” (Alma 10:23). In the account leading up to the end of the career of general Moroni, we read: “And there had been murders, and contentions, and dissensions, and all manner of iniquity among the people of Nephi; nevertheless for the righteous’ sake, yea, because of the prayers of the righteous, they were spared” (Alma 62:40). Samuel the Lamanite articulated the same principle in regard to the city of Zarahemla: “But behold, it is for the righteous’ sake that it is spared. But behold, the time cometh, saith the Lord, that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction; yea, wo be unto this great city, because of the wickedness and abominations which are in her” (Helaman 13:14). Perhaps the most famous instance of this principle is found in the account where Abraham pleads with the Lord to spare the city of Sodom: “And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten [righteous] shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake” (Genesis 18:32). But then, after the departure of Lot and his family, not even ten could be found, and the great city was annihilated when “the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire … out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24).