The servant thought I was talking about the elder brethren of the church, and he spoke of the Jewish elders many times as he followed me out of the city.
When my brothers saw me coming, they were very frightened and ran, thinking I was Laban--that he had killed me and was now coming to kill them. When I called to them in my own voice, they knew it was me and stopped running.
Then Laban's servant became afraid and was about to run back to the city. Being large for my age, and with the strength given to me by the Lord, I held onto the servant to keep him from escaping. I said to him, "If you will listen to what the Lord told me, as He lives, you will live."
I made an oath with him so he would not be afraid. The oath was that he would no longer be a servant if he would go with us into the wilderness.
I said, "The Lord has commanded us to get the plates, and we should be diligent in keeping His commandments. If you will come with us into the wilderness, you will be an equal among us."
This servant named Zoram took courage at my words and made an oath to go and stay with us from that time forward. We wanted him to come with us so the Jews would not know of us, for they would have come after and killed us.
After Zoram had made this oath, we were no longer concerned. about his loyalty to us.
