1 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, wherefore I did make plates of ore that I might engraven upon them the record of my people. And upon the plates which I made I did engraven the record of my father, and also our journeyings in the wilderness, and the prophecies of my father; and also many of mine own prophecies have I engraven upon them.
It would be interesting to see the fuller account of the
Nephites. However, if we had the large plates of Nephi translated, I think that
for many, the significant doctrine and testimony of Christ would probably get
lost in the details of their history and society. We commonly note that the
reason the Lord had these small plates made was in preparation to lose the 116
manuscript pages during translation. But another reason for the small plates
could be so we, as readers, don’t get so bogged down with history that we
forget the main purpose of the Book of Mormon: to testify of Christ.
