Jason, that scripture helped me through a few of the weary patches on my mission.

Stella, that last sentence always gets me too.

Isn’t it interesting how there’s a scripture for everyone? Everything that’s been quoted here is beautiful and true, yet Russell Arben Fox’s Jacob 1:8 has hit me the hardest. We have similar temperaments, I guess that’s why.

“Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.
“For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” – 1 Nephi 21:14-16 (Isaiah)

“we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes” – Mosiah 1:5

“O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss.” -Mormon 6:17-18

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.” – Moroni 7:48

“And it came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise.
“And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.
“And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
“And when he had done this he wept again;
“And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.” – 3 Nephi 17:19-23

I guess this comment got kinda long…sorry, I got carried away! Thanks for the post and great comments.

“For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things…”
Lehi’s enlightenment as he tries to grasp the sundering of his
own family right before his eyes.

“and I saw the day of grace was passed with them…
for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion
against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face
of the land..” Not beautiful but perhaps sublime…Mormon’s
account comes into its own here when he becomes eyewitness.

and my personal favorite

And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

(Book of Mormon | Moroni 8:25 – 26)

“O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock.”

“touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness”

“the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger … [a]nd [the brother of Jared] saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood”

I particularly like how the simple, concrete descriptions provided match well the theme: radical Mormon materialism–the literal physical nature of God. Perhaps it was lines like these (assuming that Ether’s account in Ether 3 is a transcription of the brother of Jared’s writing) that led Moroni to observe “Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.”

Some striking moments of tragic beauty (arousing fear and pity and all that) also stand out to me:

The decline of the Jaredites, culminating in Ether 15:
“when they had all fallen by the sword, save it were Coriantumr and Shiz, behold Shiz had fainted with the loss of blood. … And … when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword, that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz. … And … after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died.”

The disintegration and later destruction of the Nephite/Lamanite societies prior to the appearance of Jesus Christ in the western hemisphere in 3 Nephi 8:

“they did destroy upon the judgment-seat, yea, did murder the chief judge of the land. And the people were divided one against another; and they did separate one from another into tribes, every man according to his family and his kindred and friends; and thus they did destroy the government of the land.”

“there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land. And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder. And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land. And the city of Zarahemla did take fire. And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned. And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city there became a great mountain.
***
And … there was thick darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel the vapor of darkness; And there could be no light, because of the darkness, neither candles, neither torches; neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all; And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land. And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.”

and “tender mercies”