“O How Beautiful Upon the Mountains Were Their Feet!”

D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner

The holy prophets have preached and published the good tidings of peace and salvation, and they have testified that God lives and reigns in his heaven. Blessings on their feet! The feet, in scriptural symbolism, are the parts of the body that carry God’s messengers out into the mountains (the nations) of the world. Mission doctors worldwide know that missionaries have as many problems with their well-used feet as with any other part of their bodies. How beautiful, and how indispensable, are those feet! How beautiful, especially, are the feet of him who is the Prince of Peace, the founder and provider of peace and redemption for all who truly desire to become his children.

Isaiah’s words “how beautiful upon the mountains” appear seven times in the Book of Mormon: four times here, and also in 1 Nephi 13:37; Mosiah 12:21; and 3 Nephi 20:40. The beginning phrase, “how beautiful,” is in Hebrew mah nauvoo; see commentary at 3 Nephi 20:40 for the significance of “nauvoo” to the Latter-day Saints.

Verse by Verse: The Book of Mormon: Vol. 1

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