Laban was a wealthy man living in Jerusalem around 600 B.C. and a descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt; he and his fathers had kept the brass plates (1 Nephi 5:16). The plates held the five books of Moses, a record of the Jews down to the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, the prophecies of the holy prophets including Jeremiah, and a genealogy of Lehi’s forefathers (1 Nephi 5:11-14).
After Lehi left Jerusalem for the wilderness, he sent his sons back to obtain the records and the genealogy from Laban (1 Nephi 3:3-4), so they could preserve the language of their fathers and the words of the prophets (1 Nephi 3:19-20). When the lot fell to Laman, Nephi’s elder brother, Laban refused him, called him a robber, and threatened to kill him (1 Nephi 3:11-13). The brothers then offered Laban their gold, silver, and other property for the plates; Laban took the property, drove them out, and sent servants to kill them (1 Nephi 3:24-26).
Laman and Lemuel described Laban as a mighty man who could command fifty (1 Nephi 3:31). He carried a sword with a hilt of pure gold and a blade of the most precious steel (1 Nephi 4:9). Returning a third time, Nephi found Laban fallen in the street, drunken with wine (1 Nephi 4:7-8), and, at the command of the Spirit, killed him with his own sword and took the plates (1 Nephi 4:18). Nephi later carried the sword of Laban to the promised land and used it as the pattern for making other swords (2 Nephi 5:14). The sword was handed down among the Nephite record keepers, given by King Benjamin to his son together with the plates (Mosiah 1:16).