Modern LDS apologists now downplay an older, pre–21st-century belief that when Lehi’s company arrived in the Western Hemisphere around 600 BCE, the land was completely uninhabited. This once-common assumption is now quietly abandoned in the face of overwhelming archaeological and historical evidence showing the Americas were already home to thriving populations long before that date. Confronted with this reality, Church leaders have attempted a subtle historical rewrite—denying that such exclusivist claims were ever taught and even altering the official Book of Mormon introduction to reflect a more ambiguous view.

Yet, the actual text of the Book of Mormon still promotes the same isolationist scenario. In 2 Nephi 1:8–9, the narrative presents Lehi’s supposed prophetic promise that this “land” would remain hidden from all other nations so that his descendants could possess it exclusively:

“[I]t is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance. Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves.”

The Book of Mormon – 2 Nephi 1:8-9 (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1977), 50.

Despite modern reinterpretations, this passage plainly reflects the original worldview of the text—one in which the American continents were a divine “promised land” granted solely to a small group from Jerusalem, with no acknowledgment of preexisting civilizations.