Amaron is the fifth generation after Lehi. He apparently waited 38 years before he wrote a single word on the plates which his father had given him. He tell us that 320 years have passed away, so we are now talking about 279 B.C.Amaron says the things he would write would be few and he was right -- only 154 words. Nevertheless, he seems to have been a more spiritual man than his father for he recognized the hand of the Lord in the catastrophe which struck down the Nephites in his day. He says that during his lifetime the more wicked part of the Nephites were cleansed from the land and destroyed.
Amaron did not consider this destruction to have been a mere accident or even a coincidence. He said that after all the Lord had done for the Nephites he would not suffer that his word would not be verified concerning the afflictions the Nephites would suffer if they were wicked. This is the reason he felt the Lord had destroyed the "more wicked part of the Nephites" as indicated in verse 5. Nevertheless, the Lord had spared the righteous. Amaron apparently had no more to say other than the fact that he would now turn the record over to his brother named Chemish.