Here Nephi describes the difference between the small plates and large plates. The large plates contained a full account of my people. The small plates contained the ministry of my people (verse 3). The small plates were large enough to contain 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, and Omni. Nephi did not begin writing on these plates until 30 years after leaving Jerusalem (2 Nephi 5:28-30).