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Section 001 · The Sermon on the Mount

The Beatitudes

On the mountain Jesus opens the great sermon with the Beatitudes — and the JST restores two of them first: blessed are they who believe on him and are baptized, “visited with fire and the holy ghost.” The blessings then fall on the poor in spirit, the mourner, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart — the very people the world overlooks.

Matt 5:1–123 of 7 accountsReading: CCE

Tap a Gospel to show or hide its column — narrow to any two to read them side by side.

Study — reading text with parallel accounts; changes available.
? How to read this edition

The reading is the Covenant Christian Edition — the Joseph Smith Translation reading — carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.

JST
Green — Joseph Smith Translation. Where the Covenant Christian Edition departs in substance from the King James text and the change is in the JST (confirmed against the parallel-column edition). Modernized English (“has” for “hath,” “you” for “thou”) is not marked.
CCE
Burgundy — Covenant Christian Edition. Where the CCE’s reading departs from the King James but the change is not in the Joseph Smith Translation — the CCE’s own editorial reading (e.g. “this day I have begotten you” at the baptism).
DS
Plum — Testimony of St. John. The TSJ (a separate scripture text) and Denver Snuffer’s later commentary share the plum mark.
MatthewKJVMatthew 5:1–12CCEMatthew 3:4–14NT 1NT 2

1And Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came unto him, 2and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are they who shall believe on me. And again, more blessed are they who shall believe on your words when you shall testify that you have seen me and that I am.

Yea, blessed are they who shall believe on your words, and come down into the depth of humility, and be baptized in my name, for they shall be visited with fire and the holy ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.

3Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

4And again, blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6And blessed are all they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the holy ghost.

7And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

8And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

10And blessed are all they that are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

11And blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake, 12for you shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in Heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

3 NephiLDS3 Nephi 12:1–12CCE3 Nephi 5

1Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you and to be your servants. And unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water; and after that ye are baptized with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the holy ghost. Therefore, blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am.

2And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility, and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the holy ghost and shall receive a remission of their sins.

3Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

4And again, blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the holy ghost.

7And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

8And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

10And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

11And blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake, 12for ye shall have great joy and be exceeding glad, for great shall be your reward in Heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

Covenant of ChristCoC3 Nephi 12:1–12

This column will carry the Covenant of Christ — the 2024 modern-English rendering of the Book of Mormon — for the Sermon at the temple (3 Nephi 5), set verse-for-verse beside Matthew and the New Covenants 3 Nephi.

The published edition is all-rights-reserved; its verbatim text will appear here once permission to reproduce it is granted. Until then, follow the CoC link above to read the passage in the official edition.

Cross-references · other works
3 Nephi 12:1–2 — baptized with water… then with fire and with the holy ghost↗Psalm 37:11 — the meek shall inherit the earth↗Isaiah 61:1–2 — to comfort all that mourn↗
Hugh Nibley on the Beatitudes

Who Is Qualified to Be Admitted?

Teaching the Sermon on the Mount in his Gospel Doctrine class, Nibley read the Beatitudes not as scattered blessings but as a single entrance examination — the list of who is qualified to be admitted to the kingdom. The qualified turn out to be “all low-profile people,” having “the exact opposite of all the qualities that make for success in our present world.”

Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple“The Beatitudes,” Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol. 17
The first twelve verses of chapter 5 are the Beatitudes. They answer the question, Who is qualified to be admitted to the Church? — for the “kingdom of heaven” is, as we shall see, the way the Church is regularly designated hereafter. Those who are qualified for membership are “the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” — that is, they rate the kingdom. Likewise qualified are those that mourn and need comfort, and the meek who shall inherit the earth (that is, hereafter when the kingdom comes to its own). Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who are eager to accept the message and be accepted — who else could be better qualified?
Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple“The Beatitudes,” Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol. 17
Likewise deserving are the merciful who shall be paid in kind, the pure in heart, they alone whose confidence waxes strong in the presence of God (having no hidden vices to rankle the subconscious with guilt), those who are persecuted for being righteous, and finally those who are thoroughly unpopular in our present society; what they can hope for is “your reward in heaven.” Notice that these are all low-profile people, the same that Isaiah recommends for blessings, having the exact opposite of all the qualities that make for success in our present world.

The Beatitudes, Nibley adds, lead straight into the Lord’s charge to the disciples as “the salt of the earth” — the leaders of the Church, “of which only a little is needed but is of prime significance.”

Margaret Barker · seeing God

Blessed are the pure in heart — seeing the face

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” recovers, for Barker, the temple tradition of seeing the LORD’s face — the vision once reserved to the Holy of Holies.

Entering the TempleParis, 2017 ↗
This was the heart of St John’s vision of the temple city, and the original meaning of Jesus’ saying: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Matt.5.8). They stood in the eternal light, the pre-created light, of the holy of holies.
Seeing the Face of the LORD in the TempleTemple Studies Group, 2015
Thus Jesus taught that the pure in heart would see God (Matt.5.8); and John claimed of the incarnate LORD: ‘We have seen his glory’ (John 1.14).
Points to Ponder
  • The JST restores two beatitudes the world never reads — blessings on those who believe on Christ and are “baptized in my name… visited with fire and the holy ghost.” Why might the sermon open not with the meek but with believing and baptism?
  • Where the KJV blesses those persecuted “for righteousness’ sake,” the JST reads “for my name’s sake.” What changes when the cause of the persecution is named as Christ himself?
  • Nibley calls these “all low-profile people,” the opposite of what the world rewards. As you read the list — poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering, merciful, pure, peacemaking, persecuted — whose blessedness is hardest for you to believe?