In verse 17 Nephi states that he is going to make an abridgment of his father's record upon his own plates (apparently the small plates of Nephi), and "then will I make an account of mine own life." Chapters 1 through 8 of 1 Nephi seem to be a synopsis by Nephi of the record of Lehi; chapter 9 is an explanatory and transitional chapter; and finally at the beginning of chapter 10 Nephi states that he is now going "to give an account upon these plates of my proceedings" (1 Nephi 10:1).