# Words of Mormon 1

*Paraphrase*

### Mormon’s Introduction

I, Mormon, am about to pass this record on to my son Moroni. I’ve watched nearly my entire people—the Nephites—be destroyed. It’s been many hundreds of years since Christ came, and now I’m handing these records to my son. I expect he’ll see the complete end of our people. But I pray God will let him survive them, so he can write something about them and about Christ—something that might help someone someday.

### The Small Plates of Nephi

Let me explain what I’ve written. After I’d summarized the plates of Nephi down to the reign of King Benjamin—the one Amaleki mentioned—I dug through the records I had and found these plates. They held a brief account of the prophets from Jacob down to King Benjamin, along with many of Nephi’s words. What’s on these plates moved me, especially the prophecies about Christ’s coming. My ancestors knew many of them had come true. I know, too, that everything prophesied about us up to this day has happened, and what lies beyond will certainly come to pass. So I chose to finish my record with these. The rest I’ll take from the plates of Nephi. I can’t write even a hundredth of what’s happened to my people.

I’m going to include these plates—full of prophecies and revelations—with the rest of my record. They’re precious to me, and I know they’ll be precious to my descendants. I’m doing this for a reason the Spirit whispers to me. I don’t know everything, but the Lord knows what’s coming, and he’s working through me to accomplish his will. My prayer to God is for my people—that they might come back to knowing God, that they might understand what Christ has done for them, and become a people of light again.

### The Record Passes Through Generations

Now I’ll finish my record, drawing from the plates of Nephi and writing according to the knowledge and understanding God has given me. After Amaleki gave these plates to King Benjamin, Benjamin added them to the other plates—the royal records that had been passed down from king to king, generation after generation, until his time. They were handed down from King Benjamin through the generations until they came to me. I pray to God they’ll be kept safe from now on. I know they will be, because there are powerful truths written on them. My people and their relatives will be judged by them on the last day, according to God’s word.

### King Benjamin Fights for His People

Now, about King Benjamin: he had some conflicts among his own people. The Lamanite armies also came down from the land of Nephi to attack his people. But King Benjamin gathered his forces and stood against them. He fought with his own hands, wielding the sword of Laban. In the Lord’s strength, they fought their enemies until they’d killed many thousands of Lamanites. They kept fighting until they’d driven them completely out of their territory.

### Peace Restored

After false messiahs had appeared and been silenced, punished for their crimes— and after false prophets and preachers and teachers had arisen among the people and been punished for their crimes, and after much fighting and many defections to the Lamanites—King Benjamin, with the help of the holy prophets among his people— King Benjamin was a righteous man who ruled his people with integrity. There were many holy men in the land who spoke God’s word with power and authority. They were blunt because the people were so stubborn. So with their help, King Benjamin—working with all his strength, body and soul, alongside the prophets—brought peace to the land once more.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/words-of-mormon/1)*
