“Numberless Concourses of Angels”

Joseph F. McConkie, Robert L. Millet

The word counsel in these verses, meaning “to advise” or “to warn,” has been replaced in our more recent Bible translations by the word council, which has reference to a “body” or an “assembly.” The root word is the Hebrew sod, which carries with it the idea of an intimate council or assembly. On the basis of this interpretation and several apocryphal Old Testament texts, it may be that Jeremiah was referring to a heavenly council or assembly, his standard for the truths of salvation being that they must all trace back to the heavenly council presided over by God himself. (It is noted that in Amos’s declaration “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets—Amos 3:7—the word secret also is a translation of the Hebrew sod and carries the same meaning as the word council in the Jeremiah text above.) Legitimate prophets must have received their mission in the premortal heavenly council (see Abraham 3:22-23; Teachings, p. 365). Some too appear to have had that mission reiterated, and a specific commission given, in a heavenly council to which they were carried in vision while they were in mortality.”

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1

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