[Justice]

Well, I discovered something interesting last night, something I never had supposed.

Mormon made an abridgement of ALL the Large Plates of Nephi, and then replaced his abridgement from 1 Nephi to Omni with the Small Plates of Nephi, right before he gave the plates to Moroni.

Watch this:

Mormon 6:
1 And now I finish my record concerning the destruction of my people, the Nephites. And it came to pass that we did march forth before the Lamanites.

5 And *when three hundred and eighty and four years had passed away, we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land of Cumorah.

6 And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni.

Now, I am the kind of person that can read something, and then later not be able to tell you a specific thing about it, but I remember all the ideas and principles that were taught. Read verse 6 very close, this is where I got my idea from that Mormon buried the plates then Moroni went back later and retrieved some of them when it was safe:

knowing it to be the last struggle of my people

He did believe they would all die, or at least that the plates would fall into the hands of the Lamanites after the battle:

and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them)

He hid them so they would not be destroyed. But, look at this:

therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi

He made his abridgment, he thought, so he could bury the records he was commanded to protect, and give his son a part of the record to take with him. If Moroni lost that record (Mormon's abridgement)and it was destroyed, then the originals were still preserved and he kept his end of the promise to protect them so they could come forth at a later day.

and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni

So, Mormon did hide up all the records given to him, but made an abridgement to give to Moroni. My guess is he did this because he knew the importance of having scriptures to read to stay close to the Lord, and he knew Moroni would be the last survivor and wander for many years.

Now, let's switch to Word of Mormon.

WoMormon:
1 And now I, Mormon, being about to deliver up the record which I have been making into the hands of my son Moroni, behold I have witnessed almost all the destruction of my people, the Nephites.

It says this was about 385, which would be right because it was after the battle of Cumorah, which the text says was after 384 had passed away. It could be a little later than 385, but not much, I suppose.

Now, here's a key:

being about to deliver up the record which I have been making

What was Mormon making? He was making an abridgement of the Large Plates of Nephi, and he was finished. This included from Lehi through 4th Nephi. He was about to give it to Moroni because it was complete. Watch:

3 And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.

This threw me at first, until the Spirit opened it up to me. If you consider that Mormon was finished with his abridgement, and was about to give it to Moroni, then you can understand what Mormon is saying here.

And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi,

down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake,

He's not saying he ONLY made an abridgement of the Large Plates of Nephi from Nephi to King Benjamin, he's saying he made a full abridgement, but he is speaking specifically about the part from Nephi to King Benjamin. Here's how I know, look...

I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi

He searched among the records he buried and found the Small Plates of Nephi, which we know he did not abridge, but just "inserted" into his abridgement. Remember how Mormon was given the plates. He did not receive them from a person like everyone else, who could have instructed him on all the plates that were there. He dug them up from the hill Shim. Mormon did not have time to read all the plates until now, because of all the wars, and he just now found the Small Plates of Nephi, shortly before he passed his FULL ABRIDGEMENT to Moroni.

4 And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass—

He found them and liked them because they spoke more about Christ and about the prophecies of Christ. Why is that?

1 Nephi 6:
3 And it mattereth not to me that I am particular to give a full account of all the things of my father, for they cannot be written upon these plates, for I desire the room that I may write of the things of God.
4 For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.
5 Wherefore, the things which are pleasing unto the world I do not write, but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the world.
6 Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed, that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worth unto the children of men.

No wonder Mormon liked the Small Plates of Nephi better!

So, what did Mormon do? He swapped out his abridgement of Lehi-Amaleki for the Small Plates of Nephi. Watch:

WoMormon:
5 Wherefore, I chose these things (the Small Plates of Nephi), to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people.
6 But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren.

He chose the Small Plates of Nephi to use instead of his abridgement, and put them with his abridgement of King Benjamin through 4th Nephi.

Tada! Mystery solved.

Then, he commented on, or filled in the gap between, what happened from Amaleki to King Benjamin, which is what the Words of Mormon are. He tied the Small Plates of Nephi together with his abridgment of King Benjamin till the end, and inserted it between the two for a smooth transition.