The Law of War and Forgiveness

A revelation that counts. It tells the injured party what to do the first time, the second time, the third time and the fourth, and it runs the same counting twice — once for personal injury and once for national war — arriving at opposite-looking answers from the same arithmetic.

What this page maps. Modern revelation, reported as the text gives it. The section speaks in a first-person divine voice throughout. Dates, places, and occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated; in particular, nothing about what had been done to the hearers is available to this page, and nothing is supplied.

Account

The frame: affliction, and a promise about prayers

Before any rule, the section states a relation to what has already happened: “fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks” (D&C 98:1); the hearers’ prayers “have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament” (D&C 98:2); and “all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good” (D&C 98:3).

The obligation stated in the middle of that frame is unconditional and is worded in an older prophet’s terms.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 98:11: “And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God.” - Matthew 4:4: “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Divergences reported: the gospel’s clause is the second half of a contrast whose first half is bread (“Man shall not live by bread alone”, Matthew 4:4); the revelation drops the contrast and keeps only the positive half, attached instead to forsaking evil (D&C 98:11). “that proceedeth” becomes “which proceedeth forth”. The run “out of the mouth of God” stands at four distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two, Moroni 7:25 — “by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God” — and Moses 5:15, where the sense is different (“the words went forth out of the mouth of God in a firm decree”). Moroni 7:25 is the nearer of the two disclosures in wording; the gospel verse is paired because it, like the revelation, states the clause as a rule of living rather than as a description of an event.

The method by which such words arrive is stated one verse later, in a formula that stands in three corpora.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 98:12: “For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.” - 2 Nephi 28:30: “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts…”

Divergences reported: the recipients differ — “the faithful” in the revelation, “the children of men” in the Book of Mormon verse; the revelation drops “here a little and there a little”, which both of the other witnesses keep; and the revelation attaches a purpose the others do not state, “and I will try you and prove you herewith” (D&C 98:12). The pair “line upon line” and “precept upon precept” stands at five distinct frozen verses in the corpus each, and at the same five: 2 Nephi 28:30, D&C 98:12, D&C 128:21, Isaiah 28:10, and Isaiah 28:13. The Isaiah verses put the two phrases in the reverse order — “precept must be upon precept… line upon line” (Isaiah 28:10) — and 2 Nephi 28:30 is paired here because it alone carries the same order as the revelation. The Isaiah verses and D&C 128:21 are disclosed, not paired.

The counting, first pass: what to do when you are struck

The rule for personal and family injury is a graded scale in which the reward rises with each borne blow. If men smite “you, or your families, once, and ye bear it patiently and revile not against them, neither seek revenge, ye shall be rewarded” (D&C 98:23) — with the converse stated immediately: “if ye bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being meted out as a just measure unto you” (D&C 98:24). The second time borne, “your reward shall be an hundred-fold” (D&C 98:25); the third, “your reward shall be doubled unto you four-fold” (D&C 98:26).

What the count produces is not a permission but an evidentiary record: “these three testimonies shall stand against your enemy if he repent not, and shall not be blotted out” (D&C 98:27). A warning must then be given in person — “ye shall see to it that ye warn him in my name, that he come no more upon you, neither upon your family, even your children’s children unto the third and fourth generation” (D&C 98:28) — and only after that is the enemy said to be “delivered… into thine hands” (D&C 98:29).

The verses that follow are the section’s sharpest, because they state two outcomes and endorse both. Sparing is rewarded: “if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children’s children unto the third and fourth generation” (D&C 98:30). Requital is justified: “if thou rewardest him according to his works thou art justified; if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified” (D&C 98:31). The text states a reward for one and a justification for the other, and does not rank them; this page does not rank them either.

The counting, second pass: nations

The same arithmetic is then run at a different scale and attributed to older lawgiving: “this is the law I gave unto my servant Nephi, and thy fathers, Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and all mine ancient prophets and apostles” (D&C 98:32). The rule: the ancients “should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue, or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them” (D&C 98:33); when war is proclaimed against them “they should first lift a standard of peace unto that people, nation, or tongue” (D&C 98:34); and if the offering is refused “neither the second nor the third time, they should bring these testimonies before the Lord” (D&C 98:35), after which battle is commanded and justified (D&C 98:36).

Two features of this pass are reportable facts. It uses the same three-count and the same word “testimonies” as the personal rule (D&C 98:27, 98:35), which is why the two passes are treated on one page. And its verses attribute a named law to a named prophet without citing any text — “the law I gave unto my servant Nephi” (D&C 98:32) — so no source-asserted connection is minted from it; whether any passage in the Book of Mormon states that law is listed under Open uncertainties for the dc-quoter wave rather than asserted here.

The counting, third pass: forgiveness, which does not stop at three

The section’s last movement runs the count once more and breaks the pattern. Where the enemy repents, forgiveness is required without limit: “as oft as thine enemy repenteth of the trespass wherewith he has trespassed against thee, thou shalt forgive him, until seventy times seven” (D&C 98:40).

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 98:40: “And so on unto the second and third time; and as oft as thine enemy repenteth of the trespass wherewith he has trespassed against thee, thou shalt forgive him, until seventy times seven.” - Matthew 18:22: “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

Divergences reported: the gospel’s verse is an answer correcting a proposed number (“I say not unto thee, Until seven times”, Matthew 18:22); the revelation states the figure directly, as the terminus of a rule it has been building for three verses. The revelation also attaches a condition the gospel verse does not state in its own words — the enemy’s repentance (“as oft as thine enemy repenteth”, D&C 98:40). The run “seventy times seven” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus — these two.

Where the enemy does not repent, the rule inverts and the arithmetic stops: forgive the first, second, and third trespass anyway (D&C 98:41–43), “But if he trespass against thee the fourth time thou shalt not forgive him, but shalt bring these testimonies before the Lord” (D&C 98:44) — and even then the record is not permanent, since it stands “until he repent and reward thee four-fold” (D&C 98:44). The section’s final verses put a way out in the hands of descendants: “if the children shall repent, or the children’s children, and turn to the Lord their God… then thine indignation shall be turned away” (D&C 98:47), and “their trespasses shall never be brought any more as a testimony before the Lord against them” (D&C 98:48).

Two verses in the middle that belong to other subjects

Two of the section’s best-known lines sit between the passes and are quoted here because they are in this section, not because they belong to its argument.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 98:16: “Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children;” - Luke 1:17: “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Divergences reported: order — the revelation states the children-to-fathers direction first and the fathers-to-children second, while the gospel verse states only the fathers-to-children direction and pairs it with a different second clause, “the disobedient to the wisdom of the just” (Luke 1:17). The revelation attaches the turning to a peace commandment in the same breath (“renounce war and proclaim peace”, D&C 98:16), which no other witness to the formula does. The run “hearts of the fathers” (plural “hearts”) stands at four distinct frozen verses in the corpus: D&C 27:9, D&C 98:16, D&C 110:15, and Luke 1:17. Malachi 4:6 and D&C 2:2 — already registered against each other on Revelations Recorded Twice — read “heart of the fathers” in the singular and are disclosed, not paired. The turning-of-hearts material as a subject is treated on The Committing of Keys, and this verse is flagged to that page.

[Textual] — verbatim quotation. () - D&C 98:18: “Let not your hearts be troubled; for in my Father’s house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also.” - John 14:2: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

Divergences reported: tense — the gospel’s “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2) stands in the revelation as a completed act, “I have prepared a place for you” (D&C 98:18). The gospel’s parenthesis “if it were not so, I would have told you” has no counterpart in the revelation, which instead adds “where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also”. The opening clause “Let not your hearts be troubled” (D&C 98:18) corresponds to a different verse in the gospel, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1), singular where the revelation is plural; because the two gospel verses cannot be quoted as one, only the mansions verse is paired, and John 14:1 is disclosed. The run “in my Father’s house are many mansions” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus — these two.

Significance

The section’s method is what makes it unusual: it legislates by counting, and it says so out loud. Three borne blows produce “three testimonies” (D&C 98:27); three refused peace offerings produce “these testimonies” (D&C 98:35); three unrepented trespasses produce forgiveness anyway, and the fourth produces a filing rather than a vengeance (D&C 98:41–44). At every scale the count generates evidence, not permission, and the permission — where it comes at all — is a separate act that follows.

The reader who expects the section to resolve into either pacifism or its opposite will find that it does not. “Renounce war and proclaim peace” (D&C 98:16) stands in the same section as “thou art justified” (D&C 98:31) and as a commanded battle (D&C 98:36). The wiki reports both and declines to harmonize them; how they fit together, if they do, is a question for the reader.

Key references

D&C 98:1–3 — the frame: comfort, recorded prayers, affliction working for good
D&C 98:11–12 — living by every word; line upon line
D&C 98:16–18 — renounce war; the turning of hearts; many mansions
D&C 98:23–31 — the personal count, and the two endorsed outcomes
D&C 98:32–38 — the ancient law, the standard of peace, the commanded battle
D&C 98:39–48 — forgiveness to seventy times seven, and the fourth-time rule

The Law of the Church · Governments and Laws · Captain Moroni · Title of Liberty · The Committing of Keys · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants section 98 throughout (verse text only; headnotes excluded). Matthew 4, Matthew 18, 2 Nephi 28, Luke 1, and John 14 quoted alongside it; Moroni 7, Moses 5, Isaiah 28, D&C 128, D&C 27, D&C 110, D&C 2, and Malachi 4 are cited, and several quoted, inside disclosures.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. Five connection records are registered on this page, all [textual] and all submitted asserted_by: wiki. Phrase distributions are counts of distinct frozen verses in the corpus, derived by script at the time of writing on the stated basis.