8 Or, in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us, and become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren, That ye may be like unto us - Not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance.
9 "And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed, But if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath that on the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against you,
10 And they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, But shall slay you and shall let fall the sword upon you, yea, even until ye shall become extinct.
11 "And behold, I am Giddianhi and am the governor of this, the secret society of Gaddianton, which society and the works thereof I know to be good; And they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us;
12 And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoneus, And I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions without the shedding of blood, That this my people may recover their rights and government which have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government; And except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs; I am Giddianhi."
13 And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle, he was exceedingly astonished because of the boldness of Giddianhi in demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites,
14 And also of threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers.
15 Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber;
16 Therefore, he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, But he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them.
17 Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people that they should gather together their women and their children, their flocks and their herds and all their substance - save it were their land - unto one place.
18 And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them and the strength thereof should be exceeding great.