1 Nephi 4

“Let’s go back to Jerusalem,” I said to my brothers, “and faithfully fulfill God’s commandments to us. God is mightier than all the earth, mightier than 50 of Laban’s servants, or even 10,000 armed men. Let’s go and be strong like Moses who ordered the Red Sea to part, let our ancestors pass, and afterwards drowned the Pharaoh’s army. How can you doubt the certainty of our success when an angel of God has spoken to you? God will deliver Laban to us just as he destroyed the Egyptians.”

In spite of my brothers’ complaints and anger, we returned to Jerusalem that night. While they hid themselves outside the city walls, I crept into the city and back to Laban’s home, led by the Spirit of God. When I approached Laban’s home, I saw a drunken man fall down on the ground and on approach, found it to be Laban himself. When I saw his beautiful sword, I pulled it from its sheath to marvel at it, and the Spirit told me to quickly kill Laban.

“I have never spilled the blood of anyone,” I said silently to myself.

When I hesitated to do as I was told, the Spirit again spoke to me saying, “As promised, God has delivered Laban into your hands.” I remembered that Laban had refused to listen to God’s warnings, had refused God’s will to give us the plates, had stolen all of our family’s wealth, and had even tried to kill my brothers and me. Now he lay at my feet, unconscious. Again the Spirit spoke to me, “Kill him,” he said. “It is better that one wicked man should die than that a nation should falter and perish in disbelief.” Hearing this, I was reminded of God’s promise to create a great nation in the promised lands. I recognized the need to have Laban’s brass plates with God’s commandments to Moses inscribed upon them. I grabbed Laban by the hair and cut off his head with his own sword.

After removing Laban’s clothes and armor, I put them on myself and went into his treasury. Acting and speaking as if I were Laban, I got one of Laban’s servants to give me access to the treasury. He helped me to obtain the plates and we returned with them to my brothers, who were waiting outside Jerusalem’s walls. When my brothers saw me approaching, in Laban’s clothing and armor, in the company of the servant, they panicked and ran away in fear. They assumed that I was dead and that Laban was coming to kill them, too. I called after them and they came back, after recognizing my voice.

The servant who had helped me now understood the actual situation. He became frightened and prepared to run. I grabbed hold of him and said, “God has commanded us to do this and we are diligently doing as we have been instructed. If you come to the wilderness with us, you will have a place among our family.” I told him that I had no desire to kill him but would spare his life and give him freedom if he would listen to my words and come to obey God’s will. I didn’t want him to alert the Jews and have them come chasing after us. His name was Zoram, and he accepted our offer with a promise of allegiance. The five of us then returned to the wilderness with the brass plates in hand.