Amaleki² was the son of Abinadom and the last of the writers on the small plates of Nephi, closing the book of Omni (Omni 1:12; 1:30). He was born in the days of Mosiah¹, lived to see that king’s death, and wrote during the reign of Benjamin, Mosiah’s son (Omni 1:23).
Amaleki recorded that Mosiah¹, warned by the Lord, led those who would follow him out of the land of Nephi into the wilderness and down to the land of Zarahemla (Omni 1:12-19). There they found the people of Zarahemla, who had come from Jerusalem at the time Zedekiah was carried captive to Babylon, had brought no records, and whose language had become corrupted; descendants of Mulek (Mosiah 25:2). Mosiah’s people carried the plates of brass containing the record of the Jews. The two peoples united, and Mosiah was appointed their king (Omni 1:14-19).
Having no seed, Amaleki delivered the plates to King Benjamin, whom he judged a just man, and exhorted his readers to believe in prophecy, revelations, the ministering of angels, and the gifts of speaking with tongues and interpreting languages — urging confidence in all good things that come from the Lord (Omni 1:25). He then called them to come unto Christ, offer their whole souls as an offering unto him, continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end, promising that “as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:26). Mormon later recorded that after Amaleki gave up the plates, Benjamin placed them with the records handed down by the kings (Words of Mormon 1:10). Amaleki had a brother who joined a company that went up to reclaim the land of Nephi and was never heard from again (Omni 1:30).
A man named Amaleki appears later among the three brethren Ammon took down to the land of Nephi in the days of Mosiah², where they found the people of King Limhi, grandson of Zeniff (Mosiah 7:6; Mosiah 7:14), and helped return them to Zarahemla (Mosiah 22:13). This Amaleki belongs to a later generation than the record keeper, who was already aged in Benjamin’s day.