Words of Mormon

Time

Around 385 CE. Written by Mormon after he has abridged the large plates but before he adds the small plates.

Main Content

This single chapter is Mormon speaking directly in his own editorial voice. He explains that, while abridging the large plates, he discovered the small plates of Nephi and was moved to include them intact — without abridging them — because they pleased him and because “the Spirit” prompted him. He does not know why; he trusts there is a “wise purpose” in preserving them. This editorial decision explains why the Book of Mormon opens with the small plates (spiritual, prophetic) rather than the large plates (historical, political), even though the large plates were written first.

Function in the Overall Narrative

Words of Mormon is the hinge between the small and large plates. It makes explicit what other scriptures leave implicit: that the text we read is the product of an editor’s choices. Mormon’s admission that he doesn’t fully know why he included the small plates — only that the Spirit prompted him — is a striking moment of editorial humility. His “wise purpose” comment has been read devotionally as anticipating the loss of the first 116 manuscript pages (which were translated from the large plates) — the small plates covered the same period and thus replaced what was lost.

Further Reading

• Book of Omni — the close of the small plates
• Book of Mosiah — the narrative resumes on the large plates
• Characters: Mormon