For a wise purpose

1 Nephi 9

This is a short but very significant chapter in the Book of Mormon. Nephi explains that he had been keeping a record of their doings, but the Lord had commanded him to make another record. He wrote:

5 "Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.

6 "But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. . . ."

Nephi explained that these smaller plates (from which this portion of the Book of Mormon was translated) contained the more sacred writings while the larger plates told of the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions of his people. Our Church history further reveals the reason another set of plates was needed. Joseph Smith began the task of translation, working from the set of large plates. A friend of Joseph's who had been very supportive of Joseph begged him to let him take the 116 pages of translated manuscript home to show his skeptical wife. Joseph asked the Lord if it would be all right and was told no, but Martin was persistant, pleading with Joseph to ask again. Finally permission was given and Martin took the manuscript home.

Other skeptical family members were shown the manuscript, and someone stole it in hopes to expose Joseph as a charlatan. Losing the manuscript was an awful ordeal for Joseph, as he knew he had displeased the Lord by letting Martin take it. All the plates were taken from him for a period of time, and when they were finally returned to him, he was told not to retranslate that section from the large plates, as the persons who had stolen the manuscript would change it to be different from a second translation. The Lord, knowing what would happen, had Nephi make a second set of plates (which was even more valuable because of the sacred nature of what was written thereon), and it was no coincidence that the record covered the same time period as the lost 116 pages of manuscript.