Redaction:Despite Nephi’s powerful future orientation, he is also writing “unto my people.” Such phrases suggest a more immediate purpose than evidenced by these plates alone; surely he would have communicated these thoughts through sermons, private counsel, and other oral settings, even though these small plates did not become part of the public record. It is ironic that, at this moment when his heart is turned toward his descendants, they apparently forgot his words—an irony that we, his future readers, understand.