1 NephiChapter3

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father.

When I returned from talking with the Lord, I went to my father's tent,

And it came to pass that he spake unto me, saying: Behold I have dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem.

and he told me, "I've had a dream, and in it the Lord commanded that you and your brothers should go back to Jerusalem.

For behold, Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass.

Laban has the record of the Jews, and with it a genealogy of my ancestors, engraved on brass plates.

Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness.

That is why the Lord has commanded me to send you and your brothers to Laban's house, to get the records and bring them down here into the wilderness.

And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord.

Now, your brothers are complaining — they say I'm asking them to do a hard thing. But it's not me asking; it is the Lord's commandment.

Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.

So go, my son, and the Lord will favor you, because you have not complained."

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

I said to my father, "I will go and do what the Lord has commanded, because I know the Lord never gives a commandment without preparing a way for us to accomplish it."

And it came to pass that when my father had heard these words he was exceedingly glad, for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord.

When my father heard this, he was overjoyed, knowing the Lord had blessed me.

And I, Nephi, and my brethren took our journey in the wilderness, with our tents, to go up to the land of Jerusalem.

My brothers and I packed our tents and set out through the wilderness, up toward the land of Jerusalem.

And it came to pass that when we had gone up to the land of Jerusalem, I and my brethren did consult one with another.

When we got there, we talked over how to do it,

And we cast lots—who of us should go in unto the house of Laban. And it came to pass that the lot fell upon Laman; and Laman went in unto the house of Laban, and he talked with him as he sat in his house.

and we cast lots to see who would go to see Laban, and Laman was chosen. So, he went to Laban's house and sat and talked with him,

And he desired of Laban the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, which contained the genealogy of my father.

and asked him for the records engraved on the brass plates, the ones with my father's genealogy.

And behold, it came to pass that Laban was angry, and thrust him out from his presence; and he would not that he should have the records. Wherefore, he said unto him: Behold thou art a robber, and I will slay thee.

But Laban got angry and threw him out, refusing to let him have the records. "You're a robber," he said, "and I'll kill you!"

But Laman fled out of his presence, and told the things which Laban had done, unto us. And we began to be exceedingly sorrowful, and my brethren were about to return unto my father in the wilderness.

Laman ran out and came back and told us everything, and we were very sad.

But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.

My brothers were ready to give up and head back to our father in the wilderness, but I said to them, "As the Lord lives, and as we live, we will not go back to our father in the wilderness until we have done what the Lord has commanded us.

Wherefore, let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; therefore let us go down to the land of our father’s inheritance, for behold he left gold and silver, and all manner of riches. And all this he hath done because of the commandments of the Lord.

So let's be faithful and keep the commandments of the Lord. Let's go down to our father's homeland, where he left gold and silver and all kinds of riches. He walked away from all of it because the Lord commanded him.

For he knew that Jerusalem must be destroyed, because of the wickedness of the people.

Our father knew that Jerusalem will be destroyed because of how wicked its people have become.

For behold, they have rejected the words of the prophets. Wherefore, if my father should dwell in the land after he hath been commanded to flee out of the land, behold, he would also perish. Wherefore, it must needs be that he flee out of the land.

They have rejected the words of the prophets, and if he had stayed after being commanded to flee, he would have died along with them. That is why he had to go.

And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers;

It is God's wisdom that we get these records, so that we can preserve for our children the language of our fathers,

And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.

and preserve the words of all the holy prophets, spoken by the Spirit and power of God from the beginning of the world down to our own day."

And it came to pass that after this manner of language did I persuade my brethren, that they might be faithful in keeping the commandments of God.

That was how I persuaded my brothers to stay faithful and keep the commandments of God.

And it came to pass that we went down to the land of our inheritance, and we did gather together our gold, and our silver, and our precious things.

So we went down to our homeland and gathered up our gold, our silver, and our valuables,

And after we had gathered these things together, we went up again unto the house of Laban.

and once we had it all together, we went back up to Laban's house.

And it came to pass that we went in unto Laban, and desired him that he would give unto us the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, for which we would give unto him our gold, and our silver, and all our precious things.

We went in and made him an offer: our gold, our silver, every valuable we had, in exchange for the records engraved on the brass plates.

And it came to pass that when Laban saw our property, and that it was exceedingly great, he did lust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property.

But when Laban saw our property and how much there was, he wanted it for himself. He threw us out and sent his servants to kill us so he could keep everything.

And it came to pass that we did flee before the servants of Laban, and we were obliged to leave behind our property, and it fell into the hands of Laban.

We fled from Laban's servants and had to leave everything behind. Laban kept it all.

And it came to pass that we fled into the wilderness, and the servants of Laban did not overtake us, and we hid ourselves in the cavity of a rock.

We escaped into the wilderness without his servants catching us, and we hid in a cave.

And it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened unto the words of Laman. Wherefore Laman and Lemuel did speak many hard words unto us, their younger brothers, and they did smite us even with a rod.

At this point, Laman was furious with me and with our father, and so was Lemuel, because he listened to Laman. They said many harsh things to us, their younger brothers, and then they began to beat us with a stick.

And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands.

But just as they were beating us, an angel of the Lord came and stood in front of them and said, "Why are you beating your younger brother with a stick? Do you not know that the Lord has chosen him to be a ruler over you, because of your own sins? Go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands."

And after the angel had spoken unto us, he departed.

And after the angel said this, he left.

And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?

But he was barely gone before Laman and Lemuel began to complain again: "How can the Lord possibly deliver Laban into our hands? He is a powerful man. He can command fifty men — he could even kill fifty! Then why not us?"