When Lord commanded Lehi to send his sons back to Jerusalem to obtain a spiritual record engraved on brass plates, Nephi responded with faith. Their first two attempts were unsuccessful: (1) simply requesting the plates from their caretaker (Laban) and (2) attempting to purchase the plates with the gold and silver they had left behind.
Chapter Outline
- Nephi agrees to return to Jerusalem for the brass plates (v. 1-8).
- Attempt #1: Laman visits Laban and asks for the plates (v. 9-14).
- Attempt #2: They attempt to buy the plates (v.15-27).
- Laman and Lemuel beat Nephi and Sam; an angel intervenes (v. 28-31).
My Takeaways
- God has prepared the way for us to overcome every challenge we face.
- We can learn as much from our failures as we can from our successes.
- When you commit to a course of action, follow through. Don’t give up at the first obstacle!
Featured Blog Posts
❖ Lehi Gives the Assignment – 1 Nephi 3:2-6
Return to Jerusalem – 1 Nephi 3:1-2
1 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father. 2 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…
I Have Not Required It of Them – 1 Nephi 3:5
5 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. (1 Nephi 3:5) A core message of Nephi’s writings is that we can do difficult things when the Lord…
How Can I Delegate More Effectively?
After leading his family away from their home in Jerusalem, Lehi sent his four sons back on a dangerous mission. They knew it would be difficult, and more than one of them complained about the assignment. But Lehi handled the situation well: He provided context for the request. “I have dreamed a dream, in the which…
❖ Nephi Responds with Faith – 1 Nephi 3:7
Go and Do – 1 Nephi 3:7
For many of our daily activities, we can be successful by simply doing two things: Showing up (“going”) Participating (“doing”) It sounds simple enough, but how easy is it to avoid attending the activity, going where the action is? And even when we do make it there, how easy is it to be passive and…
❖ Nephi Persuades His Brothers to Try Again – 1 Nephi 3:15-27
How Can I Teach My Children to Be Resilient?
In the September 2019 issue of the Ensign magazine, Elder Lynn G. Robbins expresses his concern that many young people have not developed sufficient resilience. He defines resilience as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change,” and he encourages parents to increase their efforts to help their children develop this…
We Will Not Go Down – 1 Nephi 3:14-15
14 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. 15 But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we…
We Did Gather Together Our Gold, and Our Silver, and Our Precious Things – 1 Nephi 3:22-24
22 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. 23 And after we had gathered these things together, we went up again unto the house of Laban. 24 And it came to pass that…
❖ Lemuel Follows Laman – 1 Nephi 3:28
He Hearkened Unto the Words of Laman – 1 Nephi 3:28
28 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. (1 Nephi 3:28)…
New Testament Parallels
God Will Prepare a Way
God allows us to be tempted, but He also provides a way for us to overcome temptations. He gives us assignments, but He also prepares a way for us to fulfill them. The surprises in our lives don’t surprise Him, and He’s ready to help us through them.
Nothing Shall Be Impossible
People who have faith have a healthy dose of skepticism when they are told that something can’t be done. My son and I spent the morning yesterday moving furniture donated to Catholic Charities on behalf of refugees. We picked up the furniture at people’s homes, loaded it onto a moving truck, and then unloaded it…
All Posts Referencing 1 Nephi 3
- A Book of Remembrance (1/28/2026)
- Two Trees: Lehi on Opposition and Agency (1/20/2026)
- Scripture Searching (1/13/2024)
- God Will Prepare a Way (8/31/2023)
- Family Revelation (1/15/2023)
- Nothing Shall Be Impossible (1/8/2023)
- Dreams and Visions (11/13/2022)
- Finding Favor (3/10/2022)
- Your Birthright (2/25/2022)
- The Raven, the Dove, and the Olive Leaf, or How Did Noah Know? (2/2/2022)
- “In the Very Hour” (4/8/2021)
- “Another Way” – Alma 22:4 (6/26/2020)
- Lehi and Sariah’s Family (1/12/2020)
- Go and Do – 1 Nephi 3:7 (1/10/2020)
- What Does the Book of Mormon Affirm? (12/28/2019)
- What Is Lust? (11/20/2019)
- Why Did God Command Nephi to Kill Laban? (10/18/2019)
- How Do Different Forms of Revelation Support One Another? (10/5/2019)
- How Can I Teach My Children to Be Resilient? (9/19/2019)
- How Can I Delegate More Effectively? (9/10/2019)
- Why Were Laman and Lemuel Unable to Overcome Their Negativity? (7/22/2019)
- Why Is Family History Important? (7/17/2019)
- What Should I Do When I Have Doubts? (7/13/2019)
- What Does It Mean to Serve God “with All Diligence of Mind?” (7/8/2019)
- What Does the Book of Mormon Teach About Obedience? (6/30/2019)
- How Can I Be a Better Father? (6/17/2019)
- What Is the Appropriate Balance Between Hard Work and Faith? (6/3/2019)
- Is It Wrong to Complain? (5/2/2019)
- An Angel of the Lord Came – 1 Nephi 3:29-30 (3/6/2018)
- He Hearkened Unto the Words of Laman – 1 Nephi 3:28 (2/8/2018)
- We Did Gather Together Our Gold, and Our Silver, and Our Precious Things – 1 Nephi 3:22-24 (2/7/2018)
- Return to Jerusalem – 1 Nephi 3:1-2 (2/6/2018)
- I Have Not Required It of Them – 1 Nephi 3:5 (7/5/2017)
- We Will Not Go Down – 1 Nephi 3:14-15 (8/25/2016)
- I Will Go – 1 Nephi 3:7 (5/15/2016)
- 1 Nephi 3:15 We Will Not Go Down…Until We Have Accomplished the Thing Which the Lord Commanded Us (1/8/2015)