According to LDS tradition, a portion of the plates was physically sealed. However, there is no evidence in the Book of Mormon itself that the sealing was physical. (See commentary accompanying Ether 5:1.) The main “seal” (mentioned on the Title Page) kept it from being understood. However, translation broke that seal, and the book’s message could thereafter be declared from the “house tops” (v. 11). Of the two “sealings,” the one mentioned on the Title Page has been broken. The one on the content of the revelation in Ether is still in effect.