Textual: The artificial split between chapters 11 and 12 leave this verse without its logical antecedent. Mormon is referencing the return to iniquity of the Nephites. Mormon sets up a fairly simple formula, if men trust in God, the Lord will bless them. While this might seem overly simplistic, it is simply a restatement of Lehi’s foundational promise. That promise told Lehi’s descendants (a promise co-opted by the Nephites) that if they remained faithful they would prosper in the land. Mormon’s statement is the same. In different language, Mormon is reaffirming the most important covenant of the Nephite people. Of course he is doing so with great pain in his heart, because the people cannot see that this is a promise that will be fulfilled, and in their return to apostasy, they also return to the road to destruction.
Nevertheless, there was logic in the separation into chapters. All of chapter 12 is an inserted homiletic lament from Mormon. Mormon abandons his abridger’s hat and inserts himself into the text. We can gain a greater appreciation for Mormon’s literary task if we remember that Mormon saw direct parallels between the events he is describing prior to the time of Christ and the events of his own day. The unfaithfulness of a people who have been greatly blessed by the Lord is a pain that is very personal for Mormon. He feels it in the time he is writing, and he feels it about these forbearers of whom he is writing.