As the citation of Malachi ends, the Savior picks up with explanatory discourse. Interestingly, Mormon elects to give us the inserted texts, but not the explanation of those texts. This opening verse serves as a general statement of the discussion that follows the Malachi citations. As an introduction to material, it is a collective statement, and not a statement of order. Thus we may suppose that what we have as verse 2 was the immediate aftermath, and the other things, “both great and small,” are described following our verse 2.
Textual: In the 1830 edition this information followed the citation of Malachi, and is intended to explain both the import of that text and the aftermath. Orson Pratt was required to move verses 1-5 to the beginning of the next chapter rather than keep them as a chapter ending because he wanted to be able to replicate the chapter and verse for Malachi to make for easier reference.