Alma 9:1 - 9:5

Alma 9:1 And again, I, Alma, having been commanded of God that I should take Amulek and go forth and preach again unto this people, or the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, it came to pass as I began to preach unto them, they began to contend with me, saying:

Alma is commanded by the Lord to preach again to the people of Ammonihah with Amulek as a fellow witness of the truth of what he warning them against.

Alma 9:2 Who art thou? Suppose ye that we shall believe the testimony of one man, although he should preach unto us that the earth should pass away?

The people began to content with Alma. Their first point was why should they believe the word of one man even if he were to give them some dire warning about the end of the world?

Alma 9:3 Now they understood not the words which they spake; for they knew not that the earth should pass away.

What was interesting to Mormon, the editor here, was that the people did not know what they were saying had truth in it. The earth will someday pass away and be renewed.

Alma 9:4 And they said also: We will not believe thy words if thou shouldst prophesy that this great city should be destroyed in one day.

And even more to the point, the people said that they would not believe Alma even if he were to say that their city would be destroyed in one day!

Alma 9:5 Now they knew not that God could do such marvelous works, for they were a hard-hearted and a stiffnecked people.

They just do not believe that God could do such miracles. They were so caught up in their own precepts and their own view of the world that they could not see the truth in what Alma was trying to get across to them.