By the command of God, the records of the people have been compiled and passed down from generation to generation—from the exodus of Lehi around 600 b.c. until the time of Mormon and, finally, to his son Moroni, who buries the plates around a.d. 421. Between the time of Jacob (son of Lehi and brother of Nephi) and the reign of King Benjamin (around 130 b.c.), a sequence of seven transitional curators of the sacred records preserves the word of God in abbreviated format. One of these is Amaron, who makes his short entry around 279 b.c., on the day he delivers the plates to his brother, Chemish (see Omni 1:9). Amaron’s message makes clear that “the more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed” in his day (verse 5), while “he [the Lord] did spare the righteous that they should not perish” (verse 7). The essence of Amaron’s warning concerning the wicked is preserved in one verse: “For the Lord would not suffer, after he had led them out of the land of Jerusalem and kept and preserved them from falling into the hands of their enemies, yea, he would not suffer that the words should not be verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall not prosper in the land” (verse 6).