Translation: This passage obviously is about the Bible. The Book of Mormon term “book” correctly communicates the meaning to the modern reader, but it is not clear how Nephi would have understood the term. He would have been more familiar with “scrolls.” The codex, or more “book-like” compilation of pages, makes its first appearance in the second to fourth centuries. Nevertheless, our text uses the modern “book.” In my view, here is another example of the translation process—a shift in terminology based on Joseph Smith’s understanding of his readers’ world. “Book” is not inappropriate; it is simply not likely to have the precise meaning that the word on the small plates would have had.
History: When the angel is describing the Bible to Nephi, he helps Nephi understand what it is by comparing it to “the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many” (v. 23). It is intriguing to learn that the brass plates contain more information than the Bible, at least by Nephi’s time. While the Book of Mormon contains very little of the brass plates, it includes prophets such as Zenos and Zenock who are not present in the Bible. This verse suggests many other otherwise unknown records.