pgs. 122 and 123...O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God.

CHAPTER 3

The pure in heart receive the pleasing word of God—Lamanite righteousness exceeds that of Nephites—Jacob warns against fornication, lasciviousness, and every sin. Between 544 and 421 B.C.

1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and ^apray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will ^bconsole you in your ^cafflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down ^djustice upon those who seek your destruction.

2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his ^alove; for ye may, if your ^bminds are ^cfirm, forever.

3 But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in heart, that are filthy this day before God; for except ye repent the land is ^acursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not ^bfilthy like unto you, nevertheless they are ^ccursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction.

4 And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will ^alead away the righteous out from among you.

5 Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not ^aforgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were ^bone wife, and ^cconcubines they should have none, and there should not be ^dwhoredoms committed among them.

6 And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be ^amerciful unto them; and one day they shall ^bbecome a blessed people.

7 Behold, their ^ahusbands ^blove their ^cwives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their ^dunbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?

8 O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be ^awhiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God.

9 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye ^arevile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers.

10 Wherefore, ye shall remember your ^achildren, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the ^bexample that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day.

11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; ^aarouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may ^bawake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of ^chell that ye may not become ^dangels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second ^edeath.

12 And now I, Jacob, spake many more things unto the people of Nephi, ^awarning them against ^bfornication and ^clasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them.

13 And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon ^athese plates; but many of their proceedings are written upon the ^blarger plates, and their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings.

14 ^aThese plates are called the plates of Jacob, and they were ^bmade by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words.

This chapter continues Jacob's warning to his people. One can sense his concern for the well being of the Nephites all throughout this chapter. He addresses the righteous among them in the the first two verses and refers to them as the "pure in heart." That expression is so meaningful. I like this quote that elaborates a little on what the expression means:

“Zion can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart, not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people. Not a people who are pure in appearance, rather a people who are pure in heart. Zion is to be in the world and not of the world, not dulled by a sense of carnal security, nor paralyzed by materialism. No, Zion is not things of the lower, but of the higher order, things that exalt the mind and sanctify the heart” (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, Apr. 1978, p. 122; or Ensign, May 1978, p. 81).

P.S. I am posting this late on March 5th even though it is the reading for March 6th. I will be out of town starting early March 6th until late March 7th. I'm not sure if I will be able to post on the 7th but don't worry, I will post both readings on the 8th if I need to. I hope this doesn't inconvenience you. I considered getting a guest blogger to take over for the day but then I realized I better save that for a time I will be gone a little longer. Have a great weekend!!!!

pgs. 120 and 121... I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women.

8 And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing ^aword of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.

9 Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to ^aadmonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds.

10 But, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict ^acommands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the ^bpiercing eye of the Almighty God.

11 Wherefore, I must tell you the truth according to the ^aplainness of the ^bword of God. For behold, as I inquired of the Lord, thus came the word unto me, saying: Jacob, get thou up into the temple on the morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people.

12 And now behold, my brethren, this is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold, and for silver, and for all manner of precious ^aores, in the which this land, which is a ^bland of promise unto you and to your seed, doth abound most plentifully.

13 And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are ^alifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they.

14 And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you.

15 O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his ^aeye he can smite you to the dust!

16 O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this ^apride of your hearts destroy your souls!

17 Think of your ^abrethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your ^bsubstance, that ^cthey may be rich like unto you.

18 But ^abefore ye seek for ^briches, seek ye for the ^ckingdom of God.

19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to ^ado good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

20 And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him because ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you, what say ye of it?

21 Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his ^acommandments and glorify him forever.

22 And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you.

23 But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing ^awhoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son.

24 Behold, David and ^aSolomon truly had many ^bwives and concubines, which thing was ^cabominable before me, saith the Lord.

25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a ^arighteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.

26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.

27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any ^aman among you have save it be ^bone ^cwife; and concubines he shall have none;

28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the ^achastity of women. And ^bwhoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.

29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or ^acursed be the land for their sakes.

30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up ^aseed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.

31 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and ^aabominations of their ^bhusbands.

32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.

33 For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit ^awhoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts.

34 And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our ^afather, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done.

35 Behold, ye have done ^agreater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the ^bstrictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.


I've heard a lot of debate about whether or not it is a sin to be wealthy. (Does the "eye of the needle" quote from the Bible ring a bell?) I think verses 17 and 18 teach us volumes about the subject. The way I interpret this message is that wealth itself is not evil but the way individuals handle wealth and the way they value it in their hearts and minds is what matters. The key for all of us, whether we are wealthy or not (and that is relative...aren't all of us who have computers wealthy when compared to residents of 3rd world countries?) is to refrain from PRIDE!


If there is one topic that I've heard debated more than wealth, it's polygamy. (I guess we should give Jacob a pat on the back for having the courage to teach the Lord's will on both hard subjects!) To me the crux of the matter lies in verses 27, 30, 33 and 34. In verse 27 Jacob explains the Lords law is one wife for one husband. In verse 30 he explains that if the Lord has the need to raise up a seed he will command his people "otherwise" for a time. That's it. Not too bad, right? Especially for us because we are not living in a time when the Lord needs to raise up a seed. But that is where the fear/controversy comes in. What if we are asked to live the "otherwise" law at some point in our eternal existence? My answer to that is in verses 32 and 33 where the Lord says,

"I will not suffer that the cries of the fair daughters of this people...shall come up unto me against the men...they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit then with a sore curse, even unto destruction."

Sounds like the Lord will listen to His daughters' prayers, don't you think? I'm pretty sure if any woman is being held "captive" and she tells the Lord in prayer that she feels that way, the Lord will hold her captor accountable. I hope that brings you the peace of mind it brings me. If you have any other insights, please add them in the comments!