Having recorded a few highlights from the history of the Nephites who went down to Lehi-Nephi with Zeniff, Mormon decides to give us the entire history from the plates of Zeniff himself. This will comprise a total of fourteen chapters.
We learn quite a bit about Zeniff from this first verse. He claims to be proficient in the language of the Nephites and implies that this includes a knowledge of Egyptian as well as Hebrew. Zeniff also indicates that he had an intimate knowledge of Lehi-Nephi, the land of their first inheritance. This implies that he belonged to that special group of Nephites who were taken out of this very region by Mosiah I and were led northward to discover the people of Zarahemla. He was one of those who became homesick to return Lehi-Nephi and therefore was a member of the large group who comprised the first expedition. In fact, he was sent in among the Lamanites as a spy to determine whether or not they might be willing to return the land of this region to the Nephites. He says he felt there was a lot of good among the Lamanites and they could negotiate with them, and therefore they should not be destroyed.