For the third time, Alma repeats Yahweh’s foundational promise to the Nephites.
Yahweh’s personal interest in the records makes them supremely important. Now he repeats the formulation of righteousness and prospering (Alma 36:1), but spells out the results of not being righteous, while his original quotation only implied the result of not prospering—presumably materially as well as spiritually. In this third recitation of the promise, Alma spells out a primarily spiritual result—not a failure to prosper but rather being cut off from the Lord’s presence. If Helaman continues his personal righteousness, he will prosper spiritually; if he does not, he will be cut off from Yahweh and have no prophetic gift at all. For this anxious father, Helaman’s “prospering” means that he will be preserved through the coming wars.