2 Nephi 26:17-19

17 For thus saith the Lord God: They shall write the things which shall be done among them, and they shall be written and sealed up in a book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God.

18 Wherefore, as those who have been destroyed have been destroyed speedily; and the multitude of their terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away—yea, thus saith the Lord God: It shall be at an instant, suddenly—

19 And it shall come to pass, that those who have dwindled in unbelief shall be smitten by the hand of the Gentiles.

Nephi tells us that the things the Lord does among his people will be written in these books.  During his vision, Nephi saw this being done.

“And after it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true.

“And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

“And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the records of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in one; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth.

“And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations, both unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles; and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” (1 Nephi 13:39-42).

Towards the end of his record, Nephi would write the Lord’s words:

“For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

“For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it” (2 Nephi 29:11-12).

The words written in these books will be sealed.  This was a common practice among the Jews in Nephi’s time.  John Welch writes:

“[T]he Book of Mormon is indeed a binding document, a legal warning, a proclamation, a testament, covenant, and contract. Its provisions are about covenants of the Lord. It has much to do with rights of land possession, and it contains the terms and conditions that the owner of the land of promise requires those who occupy that land to obey. In other words, the religious and secular spheres were not widely separated in antiquity, and the Book of Mormon presents sacred materials often by using legalistic forms or concepts. These factors may well explain why Nephi would associate this legal form, typically used for legal contracts, with the final presentation of the Nephite records.

“Moreover, the process of sealing up the Nephite records served several practical and religious purposes. To keep the record pure, Nephi and his posterity were instructed that the records should be ‘sealed up to come forth in their purity’ (1 Nephi 14:26). As further protection against destruction, the Lord instructed his scribes to seal up the writings in a book so that ‘those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God’ (2 Nephi 26:17). Prophetically, Nephi reported that the book would be dedicated to the Lord, ‘sealed up again unto the Lord’ (2 Nephi 30:3).”[1]

Hugh Nibley explains:

“Because the world is touchy and resentful of what it does not understand—'Dogs bark at strangers,’ says the immortal Heracleitus—the keeping of the record is much concerned with hiding, withholding, dissembling, rationing, and disguising: ‘Having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hand of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I . . . hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord.’ (Mormon 6:6); ‘Those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God." (2 Nephi 26:17.) Such things are "sealed up" and ‘shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the book shall be kept from them.’ (2 Nephi 27:8.)”[2]

The threats to the records were real.  Enos would tell us the Lamanites “swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers” (Enos 1:14).  Shortly before his death, Mormon would tell us “having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni” (Mormon 6:6).

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[1] Doubled, Sealed, Witnessed Documents: From the Ancient World to the Book of Mormon, John Welch, Maxwell Institute.

[2] A Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch—Part 1, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute.