The plates are handed down for about a thousand years. Nephi may or may not have included the time period during which the record would be hidden, although he is quite specific that his people would survive four generations (according to the textual history, four hundred years) after the Messiah’s visit to the New World (1 Ne. 12:12, 2 Ne. 26:9). Those who had his record available would, however, have Nephi’s testimony and therefore the responsibility of being judged by its words. This was true of the ancient Nephites and is true of the modern Saints as well.