In Mormon 2:15, Mormon had indicated that “the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually.” Still, Yahweh’s mercy and longsuffering were sufficient to supply that grace to them, if only they would accept it. Mormon engaged the people in building defenses, their only temporal hope of salvation, while simultaneously, at Yahweh’s command, he undertook the only possible defense against their spiritual destruction—preaching repentance to them. The Nephites’ foundational promise that they would be preserved in the land extended to divine assistance in their temporal protection. Yahweh directed Mormon to do for his people the very thing that would truly save them, both temporally and spiritually.