“The North Countries”

D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner

For garments made “white through the blood of the Lamb” and “washed in the blood of the Lamb,” see commentary at 1 Nephi 12:10–11.

Many passages in modern scripture refer to the great gathering from “the four quarters of the earth” (see also Revelation 20:8; 1 Nephi 19:16; 22:25; 3 Nephi 5:24, 26; 16:5; D&C 33:6; 45:46; 135:3; Moses 7:62; Joseph Smith–Matthew 1:27), representing the four cardinal directions, or the four regions of the great circle or globe of the earth.

“The north countries” (see also D&C 133:23, 26) represent the northern regions of the globe; that is, northward from the Holy Land.

A related image used in scripture signals the gathering “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (D&C 133:7; Joseph Smith–Matthew 1:37). The expression “four winds” also represents the universal extent of God’s gathering of his faithful children (see also Jeremiah 49:36; Ezekiel 37:9; Zechariah 2:6; Revelation 7:1).

Verse by Verse: The Book of Mormon: Vol. 2

References