First Nephi — Chapter 4
1 But I told my brothers: “Let’s go up to Jerusalem again and do what the Lord commands. The Lord is more powerful than all the earth–so why not more powerful than Laban and his fifty men, or even Laban’s tens of thousands of men?
2 “Let’s go up, and be strong like Moses, who told the waters of the Red Sea to divide in two so our ancestors could escape from slavery on dry ground. The armies of the king of Egypt tried to follow them and were drowned in the Red Sea.
3 “You know this is true, and you know an angel has just talked to you, so how can you doubt? Let’s go. The Lord can save us like he saved our ancestors, and he can destroy Laban just like he destroyed the Egyptians.”
4 After I said this to them, they were still angry, and still complained, but they followed me until we came to the walls of Jerusalem.
5 It was night. I told my brothers to hide outside the city. After they hid themselves, I, Nephi, went quietly into the city and went towards Laban’s house.
6 The Spirit led me, since I did not know ahead of time what I should do.
7 As I got closer to Laban’s house, I saw a man who had fallen down from drinking too much wine.
8 When I got closer to him, I saw it was Laban.
9 I saw his sword and took it out of its sheath. Its handle was pure gold, very well made, and the blade was made from the best steel.
10 Then the Spirit told me to kill Laban, but I said in my heart: “I have never killed any person.” I did not want to kill him.
11 But the Spirit said to me again: “The Lord has given you this way to defeat him.” I knew Laban had tried to kill me. I knew he would not do what the Lord commanded, and that he had taken our money.
12 The Spirit said to me again: “Kill him. The Lord has given you this chance.
13 “The Lord sometimes kills evil people for good reasons. It is better for one person to die than for a whole nation not to believe in God.”
14 When I, Nephi, heard these words, I remembered what the Lord had told me in the desert: “If your descendants keep my commandments, they will prosper in the promised land.”
15 I knew they would not be able to keep the commandments if they did not know what the commandments were.
16 And I knew the commandments were written on the brass plates.
17 And I knew the Lord had given me this chance to kill Laban so I could get the brass plates.
18 So I obeyed the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair, and cut off his head with his own sword.
19 After I cut off Laban’s head with his own sword, I took Laban’s clothes off him and put them on myself, and then put his armor on over his clothes.
20 Then I went to where Laban kept his money. When I got closer, I saw Laban’s servant who kept the keys to the money room. I made my voice sound like Laban’s and commanded him to come with me.
21 He thought I was Laban because I was wearing Laban’s clothes and carrying his sword.
22 He talked to me about the Jewish leaders, since he knew Laban had been with them that night.
23 And I spoke to him as if I were Laban.
24 I told him to carry the brass plates to my older brothers who were outside the city walls.
25 Then I told him to follow me.
26 He thought I was talking about the older brothers in the Jewish church. He followed me because he really thought I was Laban.
27 He talked to me a lot about the Jewish leaders as we went where my brothers were outside the city.
28 When Laman, Lemuel and Sam saw me, they were very scared and began to run away, because they thought I was Laban. They thought Laban had killed me and was coming to kill them, too.
29 But I called to them in my own voice, so they stopped running away.
30 But then Laban’s servant got scared. He was just about to run back to Jerusalem,
31 But I, Nephi, was a big man, and the Lord made me strong, so I grabbed Laban’s servant and stopped him from running away.
32 I told him that if he would listen to me, I would not hurt him.
33 I promised him that if he came with us into the desert, he would be a free man, not a servant.
34 I told him: “The Lord has told us to do these things, and we should do what he commands us to do. If you come with us to my father in the desert, you will become part of our family.”
35 The servant’s name was Zoram, and after I said this, he stopped being so scared. He promised to go with us to our father in the desert and to stay with us from then on.
36 We wanted him to stay with us so the Jews would not know we had escaped into the desert, in case they came after us.
37 When Zoram promised to stay with us, we did not worry about him anymore.
38 We took the brass plates and went with Zoram into the desert, and traveled until we came to the place our father had set up his tent.
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