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Using the Scriptural Index to the Latter-day Prophets

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BYU's Scriptural Index.
Today is General Conference and I am typing this on my rickety laptop while I watch the talks on television. Thinking of General Conference, a useful tool I have been using is the Scriptural Index to the Latter-day Prophets. From the website we learn what it is about:

This index links from scriptures to the general conference talks and Journal of Discourses speeches that cite those scriptures. So, for example, suppose you want to know who has cited 1 Ne. 3:7 in general conference; click on the Book of Mormon link at the left and scroll down to 1 Ne. 3; there you’ll find the answer. Who has quoted Matt. 5:48? Use the New Testament index to find out.

We have indexed the scriptures cited by speakers in LDS General Conference between 1942 and the present, and those cited by speakers recorded in the Journal of Discourses between 1839 and 1886. You can sort the citation index by scripture (the default), by speaker, or by date of citation.

This resource is useful when you have a talk to give and have been assigned a topic that revolves around a scripture. You can now very quickly find talks from General Conference that reference your scripture and gain additional quotes to give variety to your talk. It works well for Family Home Evening lessons also. I looked up 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (see image above) and found ten references. There were also additional links for verses 19 and 20 listed separately. I clicked on the second link, “00−O,73,BKP” that gave me the text of the October (O) conference address in the year 2000 (00) by Elder Boyd K. Packer (BKP) found on page 73 (73) of the Ensign.

In the left panel are a number of useful options. There are lists of topics and speakers. You can filter your searches and a nice touch is the ability to give feedback. You don’t need an instruction manual, just play with it and enjoy the words of the prophets.

Update

There are now iPhone and Android Apps, see here for details.
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Scripture Links

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My Book of Mormon and Holy Bible

Note: Since lds.org was redesigned many of these shortcuts do not work. Check back for updates.

Studying from my scriptures is a great way to improve my life. I want to know how to quickly get to them online, and it has been useful to me to learn these shortcuts.

To link to a scripture so that it is highlighted use:

scriptures.lds.org/en/hel/13/26-30#25
where:
en = English (de=German, es=Spanish, fr=French, it=Italian)
hel = Helaman
13 = chapter
26-30 = verse range
#25 = starting verse at the top of the page (not highlighted).

Notes:
When no language is specified, defaults to English.
Here is a list of abbreviations. This is about all you need to know except for a few additional ones I list.

To refer to separate verses use commas:
scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/89/1,4-5#1

To refer to the study helps indexes:

scriptures.lds.org/en/gs links to Guide to the Scriptures. Substitute for gs bd, tg, in, jst, biblemaps, or chmaps for the other helps. Add a through z to access the contents, for example scriptures.lds.org/en/gs/d lists all topics beginning with d. This works for the other helps except for the JST which uses a number to refer to select passages. biblemaps, in addition to a through z, also accepts a map number from 1 to 14 as does chmaps with map numbers from 1 to 7. biblephotos and chphotos only accept numbers 1 to 32 and 1 to 18 respectively.

Old Testament

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/ps/127/4-5#5

Only use ot for contents (ot/contents) or The Epistle Dedicatory
(ot/epstlddc)

Genesis gen Ecclesiastes eccl
Exodus ex The Song of Solomon song
Leviticus lev Isaiah isa
Numbers num Jeremiah jer
Deuteronomy deut Lamentations lam
Joshua josh Ezekiel ezek
Judges judg Daniel dan
Ruth ruth Hosea hosea
1 Samuel 1_sam Joel joel
2 Samuel 2_sam Amos amos
1 Kings 1_kgs Obadiah obad
2 Kings 2_kgs Jonah jonah
1 Chronicles 1_chr Micah micah
2 Chronicles 2_chr Nahum nahum
Ezra ezra Habakkuk hab
Nehemiah neh Zephaniah zeph
Esther esth Haggai hag
Job job Zechariah zech
Psalms ps Malachi mal
Proverbs prov

New Testament

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/eph/4/32#32

Only use nt for contents (nt/contents)

Matthew matt 1 Timothy 1_tim
Mark mark 2 Timothy 2_tim
Luke luke Titus titus
John john Philemon philem
The Acts acts To the Hebrews heb
The Epistle to the Romans rom The Epistle of James james
1 Corinthians 1_cor 1 Peter 1_pet
2 Corinthians 2_cor 2 Peter 2_pet
Galatians gal 1 John 1_jn
Ephesians eph 2 John 2_jn
Philippians philip 3 John 3_jn
Colossians col Jude jude
1 Thessalonians 1_thes Revelation rev
2 Thessalonians 2_thes

Book of Mormon

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/10/32-33#32

Only use bm for the first seven items below

Book of Mormon contents bm/contents
Title Page bm/ttlpg
Introduction bm/introduction
The Testimony of Three Witnesses bm/thrwtnss
The Testimony of Eight Witnesses bm/eghtwtns
Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith bm/jstestimony
A Brief Explanation about The Book of Mormon bm/explanation
First Nephi 1_ne Alma alma
Second Nephi 2_ne Helaman hel
Jacob jacob Third Nephi morm
Enos enos Fourth Nephi 4_ne
Jarom jarom Mormon 1_ne
Omni omni Ether ether
Words of Mormon w_of_m Moroni moro
Mosiah mosiah

Doctrine and Covenants

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/121/46#46

Doctrine and Covenants contents dc/contents
Explanatory Introduction dc/introduction
Chronological Order of Contents dc/chrono
Official Declaration—1 od/1
Official Declaration—2 od/2

Pearl of Great Price

Example: scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1/13#13

Pearl of Great Price contents pgp/contents
Introductory Note pgp/introduction
Selections from the Book of Moses moses
The Book of Abraham abr
Facsimile No. 1 abr/fac_1
Facsimile No. 2 abr/fac_2
Facsimile No. 3 abr/fac_3
Joseph Smith—Matthew js_m
Joseph Smith—History js_h
The Articles of Faith a_of_f

Zerahemnah versus Moroni

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This is tomorrow’s post posted today. My trip to Nephi, which was going to be today’s post, I will post tomorrow so as to give me more time to sort through all the photographs. First rule of blogging — always have some posts in reserve.

Sometimes a goal that may be considered dull can be made interesting with a little thought. For example, to liven the study of the scriptures I will sometimes pick a character and write about him or her. Because I will be posting it online I study hard and think of a different way to present what I find.

A World War Two documentary I watched showed battles from the perspective of both sides. I thought it would be interesting to try the same thing with a Book of Mormon battle. To show you want I mean here is an example of a February 2007 article I posted to MormonWiki. It was about a nasty piece of work called Zerahemnah. He was a Lamanite commander around 74 B.C., in the eighteenth year of the reign of the judges, first appearing in the Book of Mormon record in Alma 43:5.

Preparations for War

The Nephites

The Nephites saw the Lamanites were coming upon them so they made ready for war, placing their armies in Jershon. Their chief captain of all the armies was Moroni who equipped his men with breastplates, arm-shields, head-shields, and thick clothing.

The Lamanites

The Lamanites massed by the thousands at Antionum, the land of the Zoramites. Zerahemnah made Amalekites and Zoramites, for they were the more murderous, chief captains over the Lamanites.

Objectives

The Nephites

The Nephites wanted to:

  • Defend their lands, homes, wives and children.
  • Preserve their rights and privileges.
  • Keep their liberty to worship the true and living God.
  • Protect the Anti-Nephi-Lehis.

The Lamanites

Zerahemnah wanted to get the Lamanites angry with the Nephites so that:

  • He could have power over the Lamanites.
  • He could overpower the Nephites and make them slaves.
  • He could stop their worship of God and their faith in Christ.

[Read more…]