The words recorded in verses 3 through 62 seem to be Alma’s unabridged account. Whether Alma had written these words after their delivery, or they had been written out before hand is not stated. If the account was written afterward, it may have been what Alma remembered to have said. Regardless, it is the official record that Alma made for the Nephites (v. 2).
Alma wants it known that he is speaking with the authority of the church as well as the power and authority from God (v. 3). Since it had been over sixty years (about 147 B.C.) since his father Alma had organized the church, Alma sees a responsibility to remind the people of when and where it happened.
Alma speaks to the Nephites of being delivered on two different occasions. The first from the suppression of their own wicked King Noah (v. 4; see Mosiah 23) and the second delivery was from the persecution and burdens of the Lamanites through the priests of Amulon who had been appointed as Nephite taskmasters (Alma 5:5; see Mosiah 24). Both of these deliveries were from physical bondages the people had been placed under. In our day, both would be comparable to the independence of the United States from their mother country.