1 AND it came to pass in the *commencement of the thirty and sixth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Shiblon took possession of those sacred things which had been delivered unto Helaman by Alma.

2 And he was a just man, and he did walk uprightly before God; and he did observe to do good continually, to keep the commandments of the Lord his God; and also did his brother.

3 And it came to pass that Moroni died [ We are now 54 years before the coming of Christ. ] also. And thus ended the thirty and sixth year of the reign of the judges.

4 And it came to pass that in the *thirty and seventh year of the reign of the judges, there was a large company of men, even to the amount of five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children, departed out of the land of Zarahemla into the land which was northward.

5 And it came to pass that Hagoth, [ The meaning of the name 'Hagoth' itself. Besides carrying a relationship to the word Hagi meaning festive or an ingathering of people (which is very descriptive in itself as he did gather groups of people to carry them to the land northward, leading to a connection to the appointed times of Israel), there is an even more important and direct meaning connected to Hagoth. "My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding." (Psalm 49:3) Here the word for meditation is the Hebrew word הָגוּת or Hagoth. It comes from the root word הָגָה hagah, meaning to growl, meditate, or the growling of a lion. The usage of this word would draw the Israelite reader to the ancient teaching called "The roaring of the lions". ] , he being an exceedingly curious man, therefore he went forth and built him an exceedingly large ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, [ It was called the Land of Desolation because it was the land where the Jaradites were destroyed(Alma 22:30-31), and it is the land where the Nephites were also destroyed(Mormon 4:1-2,19). ] and launched it forth into the west sea, [ So they launched on the east side of the sea - as the sea was a west sea. ] by the narrow neck which led into the land northward. [ This is important because it defines direction in that they are headed northward. ]

6 And behold, there were many of the Nephites [ Who is getting into these boats - The Nephites. ] who did enter therein and did sail forth with much provisions, and also many women and children; and they took their course northward. [ They were headed Northward. ] And thus ended the thirty and seventh year.

7 And in the thirty and eighth year, this man [ Hagoth. ] built other ships. And the first ship [ The first ship built by Hagoth. ] did also return, [ "Did also return" does that imply that other ships that were not sent came(returned)? Or does it just identify that the ship that left also came back? I will stick with the later explanation for now. Now if the ship left and then returned we know that the ship was sea worthy, that it went on a route to a place, some(most of the people on board) got off, the captain returned with a crew to navigate back to the narrow neck of land and the sea from where they departed. ] and many more people did enter into it; [ The next group gets on board to make the same journey as the previous group. ] and they also took much provisions, and set out again to the land northward.

8 And it came to pass that they were never heard of more. [ The last or second group never returned. There are those who postulate that Hagoth launched his ship into what is now lake Erie they head north to the St Lawrence waterway which dumps into the Alantic Ocean. The currents from there would take you up past Greenland, Iceland and Scandinavia to the British Isles. The curent runs in a reverse direction during the summer months. So a good question that we could ask is Was Joseph Smith forefathers on one of those Hagoth ships? ] And we suppose that they were drowned in the depths of the sea. And it came to pass that one other ship also did sail forth; and whither she did go we know not.

9 And it came to pass that in this year there were many people who went forth into the land northward. And thus ended the thirty and eighth year.

10 And it came to pass in the *thirty and ninth year of the reign of the judges, Shiblon died also, and Corianton had gone forth to the land northward in a ship, to carry forth provisions unto the people who had gone forth into that land.

11 Therefore it became expedient for Shiblon to confer those sacred things, before his death, upon the son of Helaman, who was called Helaman, [ "Hee" means "behold": "la-man" means: young man, a lad, behold eternity, behold that which was hidden, behold eternity or behold God. Depends on how you choose to interrupt it in Hebrew. ] being called after the name of his father.

12 Now behold, all those engravings [ In the Israelite prophetic tradition, the concept of engrave/engraved/ engravings carries a deeper meaning than just carving out letters on plates. It is connected to meditation or engraving on our minds and hearts. Specifically, the word hakkak meaning to cut or engrave. The word hak representing the insertion of the spiritual into the physical. It also carries connections with progression from the physical to the spiritual, from being unclean to becoming pure. ] which were in the possession of Helaman were written and sent forth among the children of men throughout all the land, save it were those parts which had been commanded by Alma should not go forth.

13 Nevertheless, these things were to be kept sacred, and handed down from one generation to another; therefore, in this year, they had been conferred upon Helaman, before the death of Shiblon.

14 And it came to pass also in this year that there were some dissenters who had gone forth unto the Lamanites; and they were stirred up again to anger against the Nephites.

15 And also in this same year they came down with a numerous army to war against the people of Moronihah, or against the army of Moronihah, in the which they were beaten and driven back again to their own lands, suffering great loss.

16 And thus ended the thirty and ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

17 And thus ended the account of Alma, and Helaman his son, and also Shiblon, who was his son.