Nephi sees more than he is allowed to write, sure confirmation that what he does write would eventually be available to others. Whether the restriction applied beyond his own people is not clear, but it seems likely that the prohibition was prompted by the knowledge that Nephi’s audience would be modern readers who would already have John’s revelation. Presumably, then, Nephi’s purpose in recording his vision was for the benefit of latter-day readers rather than his contemporaries, even though it is a vision that he understands through his own perception of the world and his own interests.