First Nephi — Chapter 3
1 I, Nephi, came back to my father’s tent after I talked with the Lord.
2 And my father said to me: “The Lord has told me in a dream to send you and your brothers back to Jerusalem.
3 “Laban has a history of the Jews, and also a genealogy of my ancestors, written on brass plates.
4 “The Lord has told me to send you and your brothers to Laban’s house to get the brass plates and bring them back here to the desert.
5 “But your brothers are complaining, saying I have told them to do a very hard thing. I have not told them to do this, but it is a commandment from the Lord.
6 “So go, my son, and the Lord will bless you because you have not complained.”
7 And I, Nephi, told my father: “I will go and do what the Lord has commanded, because I know he does not command people to do something without making a way for them to be able to do it.”
8 My father was very happy to hear what I said, because then he knew that the Lord had blessed me.
9 So I, Nephi, and my brothers, took our tents and went through the desert up to Jerusalem.
10 When we got back to Jerusalem, my brothers and I talked to each other about what we should do.
11 We threw lots to choose which one of us should go to Laban’s house. Laman was chosen, so he went and talked to Laban.
12 He asked Laban for the brass plates which had my father’s genealogy written on them.
13 Laban was angry and threw him out, because he did not want to give him the brass plates. He called Laman a robber, and said he would kill him.
14 But Laman got away and told us what Laban had done. We were all very upset, and my brothers wanted to go back to my father in the desert.
15 But I told them: “As God lives, and as we live, we will not go back to our father without doing what the Lord wants us to.
16 “Let’s do what the Lord wants us to. Let’s go to our father’s house and get all the gold and silver, and riches he left behind when he did what the Lord commanded him to do.
17 “He knew Jerusalem must be destroyed because the people are so wicked.
18 “They will not listen to the prophets. If our father had stayed in the land after being told to leave, he would also be destroyed, and that is why he left.
19 “God has a wise reason for us to get these brass plates–so our descendants will know their ancestors’ language,
20 “And so they will know what the Lord has told his prophets ever since the world began, down to this time.”
21 This was how I told my brothers we should keep God’s commandments.
22 So we went down to our father’s land and gathered our gold and silver and riches.
23 After we did that, we went back to Laban’s house.
24 We told Laban we would give him all our gold and silver and riches if he would give us the brass plates.
25 When Laban saw how much money we had, he wanted it, so he threw us out and sent his servants after us to kill us.
26 We had to leave our money behind to get away from Laban’s servants, so Laban took our money.
27 We got away from Laban’s servants in the desert, and hid in a small cave.
28 Laman was angry with both me and my father, and so was Lemuel (because he listened to Laman). They said many mean things to us, their younger brothers, and they beat us with a stick.
29 While they were beating us with a stick, an angel of the Lord came to them and said: “Why are you beating your younger brother with a stick? Don’t you know the Lord has chosen him to rule over you because of your wickedness? Go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will help you defeat Laban.”
30 After he spoke to us, the angel left.
31 After the angel left, Laman and Lemuel began to doubt, saying: “How will the Lord help us defeat Laban? Laban is a strong man and has at least fifty servants. He can even kill fifty men by himself! So why can’t he kill us?”
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