The Mesoamerican context of this statement creates an interesting social possibility to this description of religious sacrifice and atonement. Amulek makes the sacrifice of the Savior a “great and last sacrifice.” The emphasis here is on “last.” For Amulek the effect is not simply atonement, but a sacrifice so great that it absorbs all past and future sacrifices, making the shedding of blood unnecessary.
In the Mesoamerican context this would not only refer to the Mosaic animal sacrifices, but to the human sacrifices to which Amulek has already referred. It would appear that Amulek sees the coming of the Atoning Messiah as bringing some of the alterations in social order that are predicted for the Triumphant Messiah (Christ’s second coming). This conflation of the two missions into one concept is quite common in the Old World, and not surprising in the New, even though their understanding of the mission of the Atoning Messiah was definitely more clear than it was in the Old World.
Translation: The language here reflects Matthew:
Matthew 5:18
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Amulek is discussing the fulfillment of the sacrificial aspects of the law, and that meaning is a parallel to that we have in Matthew. When Joseph translated the passage, he was clearly influenced by the Matthean language. In particular, the “jot and tittle” phrase refers to markings for the vowels in the scriptural texts that were not present when Lehi left Jerusalem. It is doubtful that they would have been independently invented in the New World as the Hebrew appears to function as a classical language that is preserved but not a living, changing language. The “jot/tittle” insertion must be referencing the New Testament phrase rather than the specifics of the actual words that Amulek used, even though the meaning is preserved.