Verse 2 of 1 Nephi 1 indicates that Lehi and Nephi used “the language of the Egyptians” to record their history onto gold plates. Four hundred and seventy years later, King Benjamin taught his sons “the language of the Egyptians,” which was not only the language of the gold plates but the language of the brass plates as well (Mosiah 1:1–4). The term “reformed Egyptian” only appears in the Book of Mormon in Mormon 9:32. Reformed Egyptian appears to be a term that reflects a variation in the language used by Lehi and Nephi. In Mormon 9:32–33 Moroni indicated that by his day, approximately a thousand years from the time of Lehi and Nephi, both the Egyptian and Hebrew had been altered from that used by Lehi and Nephi.