Mormon reiterates his moral from verses 11–13 of this chapter by noting that the Nephites were still too unrepentant to deserve further victories. They had fallen so far that they had lost almost all of their lands, but their occasional repentance allowed for some to be regained. Nevertheless, their iniquities were such that “they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and … the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them.”
The covenant of the land had a positive promise, but it also had a curse if it was not upheld. Mormon declares that the Nephites, at that time, were still under that curse, even if they had some success regaining some of their lands.
This is not the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition.