Omni, son of Jarom and a descendant of Nephi, kept the small plates of Nephi after his father conferred them on him around 361 BC, charged to keep them “according to the commandments of my fathers” (Jarom 1:15). He was commanded by Jarom to write on the plates to preserve the family’s genealogy (Omni 1:1). In his entry he calls himself “a wicked man” who had not kept the statutes and commandments of the Lord as he ought (Omni 1:2).
Omni records that he fought much with the sword to keep the Nephites from falling into the hands of the Lamanites (Omni 1:2). By his account 276 years had passed away with many seasons of peace and many seasons of war and bloodshed; he kept the plates until 282 years had passed and then conferred them on his son Amaron, around 317 BC (Omni 1:3). Amaron continued the record in his father’s book (Omni 1:4).