Text: The most important fact about this text is an omission. This verse is our introduction to the man for whom the book is named. It is not surprising that Mormon’s name does not appear in the text between 1 Nephi and Omni because Mormon inserted those records without any abridging or editing. He is named on the title page, but Moroni wrote that page at the end of the process. At this point, just after the close of Omni, the Nephites have been in the New World about three hundred years and this is the first time the text tells us about the man who is creating the record we are reading.
Mormon begins with a simple declaration of who he is and when he is writing. This is essential since he is inserting this text into a record created much earlier. He must make a significant break to help the reader clearly understand the transition from the small plates to his abridgment of the large plates. Nevertheless, he says nothing more besides his name and the time of writing.