2 Nephi 23:6-16

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 23:6-16

6 Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, every man’s heart shall melt;

8 And they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

11 And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay down the haughtiness of the terrible.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

13 Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up; and they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.

15 Every one that is proud shall be thrust through; yea, and every one that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword.

16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished.

Quotes for Discussion

The Day of the Lord is at Hand

To the Babylonians the invasion of the Medes and Persians, the destruction of their homes and cities, was “the day of the Lord.” It was the day of his vengeance and judgment upon them. The prophetic imagery, which here refers to the destruction of Babylon, is applicable to all such catastrophes of historic import. It is, therefore, also descriptive of the last judgment before the Millennium, which is, the fullest meaning of the word, “the day of the Lord.”

The destruction comes from the Almighty (v. 6); it is not a peaceful, painless operation. On the contrary, under it, people will faint with pain and anguish. (v. 7-9); stars and constellations (“Orions”), meaning, individuals and organizations renowned throughout the world for their brilliancy, will fail to give their light; even the sun and the moon—even kings and queens, and governments in general (Gen. 37:8-10)—will be darkened, or fail to function (v. 10); for the Lord will punish the world for evil and wickedness, and humiliate the proud and haughty. (v. 11) In this process the population will be decimated (v. 12); the heavens will be shaken—government systems will be dissolved—the earth removed out of her place—boundaries of kingdoms will be obliterated in the wrath of the Lord (v. 13); armies will be scattered like sheep (v. 14), and those who are found among the wicked will be slain by the sword (v. 15); in the savagery of the war, even women and children will be destroyed. (v. 16) Such is the prophetic sketch of the day of the Lord which was to end the Babylonian empire. And that catastrophe was a type of the termination of our own era, too.

George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1 p. 363

In general, this is that period of time just preceding the return of the resurrected Lord to this earth, as well as the time of His actual coming….

Although the righteous will ultimately be saved in the kingdom of God, it should be pointed out that even some of them will fall prey to the war and pestilence that will precede the Second Coming. “It is a false idea,” said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer, and ‘the righteous shall hardly escape;’ still many of the Saints will escape, for the just shall live by faith; yet many of the righteous shall fall a prey to disease, to pestilence, etc., by reason of the weakness of the flesh and yet be saved in the Kingdom of God.” (HC 4:11.)

Hoyt W. Brewster Jr., Isaiah Plain and Simple [salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 127-28