History/Narrative: This verse provides information about a revelation to Lehi of which we have no other record. Yahweh has already covenanted with Lehi that the land Nephi sees in vision will be his posterity’s new inheritance. That covenant is the first indication in the chronological text that the Lehites have any information about their destination. This is the foundational covenant of the Nephite people, the most frequently quoted Nephite scripture. The Book of Mormon as we have it from Mormon knows of this promise from Lehi and the large plates, not from the repetition of that promise to Nephi as recorded in this text (small plates).
Variant: The 1981 edition (quoted here) matches the original manuscript and the first edition of the Book of Mormon, but the editions from 1837 through 1841 were inadvertently changed: “… land of their inheritance, wherefore thou seest that the Lord God will not suffer that the Gentiles will not utterly destroy.… ” The text was corrected to the original reading beginning with the 1911 edition. The dropped line contained a negative (“wherefore, thou seest that the Lord God will not suffer that the gentiles… ”), so “not” had to be added to the final clause to maintain the meaning. With the restoration of the original phrase, the inserted “not” was removed.