After Nephi brought back the brass plates, Lehi searched through them and found that they contained "a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah" (1 Nephi 5:12). This phrase might imply that not much time had passed between the "commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah" (1 Nephi 1:4) and the time when Nephi retrieved the brass plates; otherwise, more writings would be on the plates. On the other hand, the phrase might imply that a wicked Laban just did not record anything after the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]