Book of Mormon (II Nephi, 16:1; 17:1), in connection with the writings of Isaiah.
ZARAHEMLA. When Mosiah I led the more righteous portion of the Nephites northward from the land of Lehi-Nephi. (About B. C. 200), he found on the west bank of the river Sidon a city inhabited by a partly civilized and irreligious people, whose language he could not understand. They were ruled by a chief or king named Zarahemla. When the two races began to understand each other it was found that the people of Zarahemla were the descendants of a colony which was led by the Lord out of Jerusalem in the year when that city was destroyed by the king of Babylon (B. C. 589). After wandering in the wilderness they were brought across the great waters and landed in the southern portion of the North American continent. In after years they migrated southward to the place where they were found by Mosiah. Among the members of the original colony was Mulek, the youngest son of king Zedekiah; and it is presumable that most of them were of the house of Judah.
Of the history of the colony for nearly four hundred years we know next to nothing. It is summed up in the few following words: "And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them." (Omni, 1:17.)
ZARAHEMLA, CITY OF. The capital of the Nephite nation, from about 200 years B. C. to A. C. 30, when the Commonwealth was disrupted and the people divided into tribes. This city was
