Words of Mormon
The Words of Mormon is the seventh of the 15 sections of the Book of Mormon. It is authored by a man named Mormon hundreds of years after all of the events thus far detailed in the Book of Mormon, and serves as a transition from the Small Plates of Nephi to the remainder of the book, comprised of an abridgement of the Large Plates of Nephi.
Synopsis
At the close of the Book of Omni, it is explained that the Small Plates of Nephi—in which a spiritual record had been kept dating back to the days of Lehi—were to be passed to King Benjamin and would be kept with the Large Plates of Nephi, which contained a broader, more historical record of the Nephite people.[1][2] Although Words of Mormon is the section directly following the Book of Omni, it acts as an interjection from the prophet Mormon over five hundred years later, in approximately 385 A.D. Mormon explains that he had been abridging other records in his care when he came across the Small Plates of Nephi and was very pleased to insert them.[3]
Mormon gives a brief insight into the state of affairs among the Nephites and the Lamanites of his time, though substantially more detail is given in the Plates of Mormon, which serves as the prophet's own contribution to the overall book much later on in the record. During his epoch, the Nephites have nearly all been killed. Mormon supposes that his son Moroni will likely end up witnessing their entire destruction.[4]
Then, in brief language, Mormon explains that Amaleki followed through with the objective of passing along the Small Plates of Nephi to King Benjamin. Benjamin in turn combined them with the Large Plates of Nephi, which had been in his possession due to them being handed down from king to king. From that moment onward, the responsibility of spiritual and historical record keeping was passed on jointly from generation to generation. Mormon explains that he himself is the current author of the record, and he prays that they will be preserved notwithstanding the destruction of his people.[5]
Finally, owing to an overall lack of information from previous authors regarding who King Benjamin was, Mormon explains that the man "gathered together his armies, and he did stand against [the Lamanites]" in many battles. Benjamin apparently fought "with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban" in such circumstances. The fighting ultimately proved too much for the Lamanites, who retreated to their own lands. This left the people of Nephi in a state of relative peace toward the end of Benjamin's life, though false prophets roamed the land and were punished accordingly.[6]
