Abinadi pulls the trigger. While the ignorant and even “incapable” children will be saved with the righteous, the priests of Noah will not because they are in a group that is not among the righteous of the first resurrection. They are not believers, but they are also not ignorant. They “rebel against him and die in their sins.” Abinadi knows that the priests understand the Atoning Messiah’s mission, evidenced at several points in the text where Abinadi assumes their understanding. He is not preaching new information to them but reminding them of a doctrine against which they have “willfully rebelled.”
Abinadi began his discourse by noting: “Have ye done all this? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not. And have ye taught this people that they should do all these things? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not” (Mosiah 12:37). Now he declares that the unrighteous are they “that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them.” Abinadi accuses the priests of Noah of the very sin of which he stands accused.