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Book of Mormon Commentary
Omni Chapter 1
THE RECORDS OF OMNI, HIS SONS, AND GRANDSONS, VER. 1-17
Omni 1:3 But behold, I, of myself, am a wicked man, and I have not kept the statutes and the
commandments of the Lord, as I ought to have done.
1:3 Almost unparalleled in scripture is the frankness of Omni. He writes from a sense of duty to
preserve the genealogy of his people (1). He had been a man of war in the defense of the Nephites,
but had ignored his duty to God.
Under these circumstances he makes his record very brief. After thirty-eight years (276 years after
leaving Jerusalem) he records, "We had many seasons of peace; and we had many seasons of
serious war and bloodshed" (4). Six years later he "conferred them [the plates] upon my son
Amaron" (5).
Omni 1:7 Behold, it came to pass that three hundred and twenty years had passed away, and the more
wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed:
1:7 Amaron's record is quite brief, though less biographical than his father's. He explains the
destruction of the wicked Nephites by saying the Lord would not suffer his words to fail:
"Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments, ye shall not prosper in the land" (8). He adds,
"Nevertheless, he did spare the righteous" (9).
Omni 1:10 And it came to pass that I did deliver the plates unto my brother Chemish.
1:10 Amaron thus ends his record without a word as to his own character or worthiness. There is
no evidence of guilt such as his father betrayed.
Chemish reveals two facts concerning his brother which seem to have been significant to him: (a)
Amaron "wrote it with his own hand"; and (b) the last of it was written on the "day that he
delivered them unto me" (11). Since he had the plates over an admitted period of thirty-eight
years, we are assured that he did not take seriously his duties of recording. He gave the plates to
his son, Abinadom.
Omni 1:15 And I, with mine own sword, have taken the lives of many of the Lamanites, in the defense
of my brethren.
1:15 Abinadom's record is one of the shortest of the five authors of the Book of Omni. He knew
that a historical record was being kept by the Nephite kings (16); and since all the revelations and
prophecies had been previously written, he had nothing to record. He therefore delivered the plates
to his son Amaleki.
AMALEKI AND THE PEOPLE OF ZARAHEMLA, VER. 18-54
Omni 1:19 Behold, I will speak unto you somewhat concerning Mosiah, who was make king over the
land of Zarahemla:
1:19 Amaleki departed from the pattern of his fathers and gave some bits of interesting history.
Mosiah was "warned of the Lord that he should flee out of the land of Nephi" (20).