THE WORDS OF MORMON
CHAPTER 1
Mormon abridges the large plates of Nephi—He puts the small plates with the other plates—King Benjamin establishes peace in the land. About A.D. 385.
1 I, Mormon, am about to give the record I have been making to my son Moroni, and I have seen almost all the destruction of my people, the Nephites.
2 I suppose he will see the entire destruction of my people, now many hundred years after the coming of Christ. May God allow him to survive them, so he may write about them and about Christ, so that perhaps some day it will benefit them.
3 Now I speak about what I have written. After I had made an abridgment from the larger plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spoke, I searched among the records given to me, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.
4 And the things on these smaller plates pleased me because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ, and my fathers knew that many of them had been fulfilled, and I also know that the things prophesied about us down to this day have been fulfilled, and those things in the future will surely happen.
5 So I chose these small plates to finish my record on, and the remainder of my abridgement I will take from the larger plates of Nephi, where I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people.
6 I will take these smaller plates, which contain these prophecies and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, because they are choice to me; and I know they will be choice to my brethren.
7 I do this for a wise purpose, whispered to me by the Spirit of the Lord that is in me. I do not know all things, but the Lord knows all things which are to come, so he works in me to do according to his will.
8 My prayer to God is about my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God and the redemption of Christ, so they can once again be a delightsome people.
9 I, Mormon, finish my record, which I take from the larger plates of Nephi; and I make it according to the knowledge and understanding God has given me.
10 After Amaleki had delivered up these smaller plates into the hands of king Benjamin, he took them and put them with the other and larger plates, which contained records which had been handed down by the kings, from generation to generation until the days of king Benjamin.
11 And they were handed down from king Benjamin, generation to generation, until they came into my hands. I, Mormon, pray to God that they may be preserved from this time forward. And I know they will be preserved because there are great things written on them, out of which my people and their brethren will be judged at the great and last day, according to the written word of God.
12 This king Benjamin had contentions among his people.
13 The Lamanite armies came out of the land of Nephi to battle against his people, but king Benjamin gathered his armies and stood against them, and with the sword of Laban he fought with the strength of his own arm.
14 In the strength of the Lord they fought their enemies until they had slain many thousands of the Lamanites and driven them out of the land.
15 There were false Christs, and their mouths were shut, and they were punished for their crimes.
16 There were false prophets, preachers, and teachers among the people, and they were all punished for their crimes. And after much contention and many dissensions away to the Lamanites, king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets among his people, once more established peace in the land.
17 King Benjamin was a holy man, and he reigned over his people in righteousness. And there were many holy men in the land who spoke the word of God with power and authority, using much harshness because of the stubborn pride of the people.
18 With these holy men king Benjamin established peace in the land by laboring with all the might of his body and power of his whole soul.