The Record Passes From Generation To Generation
(This first portion is found previous to the Book of Omni.) Nephi, who wrote First and Second Nephi forged the record, a book written on sheets, or plates of gold. Nephi passed them to his brother Jacob,
Jacob passed them to his son Enos,
Enos passed them to his son Jarom,
Jarom passes them to his son Omni.
In the Book of Omni, we find that:
Omni passes them to his son Amaron, (Omni 1:3)
Amaron passes them to his brother Chemish, (Omni 1:8)
Chemish passes them to his son Abinadom, (Omni 1:10)
Abinadom passes them to his son Amaleki (Omni 1:12).
The moral and general civilizational decline of the Nephites is reflected in the fact that with the exception of Abinadom who writes slightly more than his father Chemish, each successive author from Nephi to Abinadom writes less than his predecessor. The final author of the Book of Omni and the Small Plates of Nephi, Amaleki, breaks this general rule. Much like Mormon (who may have taken Amaleki as his model), this last historian of the civilization that lasted for 400 years in the land of Nephi rose to the occasion and, filled with a sense of longing for what has been lost, eloquently recounted the last days of the Nephite people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Nephi.
Read more about this topic: Book Of Omni
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