Verses 12 and 13 provide a sad contrast. Mormon has hope that their “lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow” would turn them to true repentance. The reality was that, as a people, it did not lead to repentance. It was simply sorrow. Therefore, rather than meriting God’s assistance, the Nephites preferred to struggle on their own, and to trust in their own flesh. With verse 14, Mormon puts the finishing touches on the foundation of the reason for the Nephite destructions. The Gadiantons had joined the Nephites, and the Nephites had abandoned their God.