Psalm 16—which has been called “a prayer for admission to the temple”—declares that “in [God’s] presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11; cf. 21:6). The “presence” of the Lord was experienced in his holy temple (Psalm 11:4; 2 Chronicles 20:9), and the psalmist equated that presence with a feeling of joy. King David spoke of the joy that he felt at merely witnessing his people’s willingness to help build God’s temple (1 Chronicles 29:17; cf. Ezra 6:16) and the psalmist exclaimed, “a day in thy courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10). In other words, any type of service in the temple, no matter how lowly the position, will bring a joy that is preferable to being out in the world, amongst the wicked.
Book of Mormon Central, “Why is Joy Associated with Temple Work in the Scriptures? (3 Nephi 17:17–18), KnoWhy 372 (October 12, 2017).
John W. Welch, “Seeing Third Nephi as the Holy of Holies of the Book of Mormon,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 19, no. 1 (2010): 36–55;
Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol Newsom, eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible, College Edition (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001), 786–787.