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“Nephi’s Temple Hymn”

“Nephi’s Temple Hymn”

Last updated on: August 21, 2026 at 8:39 pm by Dan Peterson

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“Nephi’s Temple Hymn” 2026-08-21T20:39:52-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Rome Italy Temple (image from LDS Media Library)

A new article, written by Nelson Chung, appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 69 (2026): 451-466, under the title of “Progressing through Gradations of Holiness in the Temple: 2 Nephi 4:32–35 as a Hymn Inspired by Ritual.”

Abstract: Sidney Sperry identified 2 Nephi 4:15–35 as “Nephi’s Psalm.” Using form-critical analysis, Matthew Nickerson classified it as a personal lament psalm. In this article, I build on biblical turns of phrase, imagery, symbolism, and the archaeological record established by previous scholarship to demonstrate how verses 32–35 constitute Nephi’s movement through gradations of increasing holiness in the temple. Nephi’s movement also exemplifies the use of thematic and rhetorical intensification, a method used by biblical poets. The ordered presentation of temple elements through those four verses suggests intentional artistry rather than random borrowing and affirms the literary sophistication of the Book of Mormon. This article adds to the substantial body of work demonstrating that Book of Mormon authors possessed a sophisticated command of Hebrew literary conventions.

The Apia Samoa Temple (LDS.org)

Nelson Chung’s article is accompanied online by Interpreting Interpreter: “Nephi’s Temple Hymn,” which was written by the indefatigable Kyler Rasmussen:

This post is a summary of the article “ Progressing through Gradations of Holiness in the Temple: 2 Nephi 4:32–35 as a Hymn Inspired by Ritual” by Nelson Chung in Volume 69 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https:/interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https://youtube.com/shorts/MnDd3tDqyMU.

The Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center on the campus of Brigham Young University, where I delivered my quartet of lectures under the title “After and Before the Apostles: Highlights from British Christian History between Dispensations” (Brigham Young University photo)

Well, BYU Education Week is over for 2026. My four lectures are done. I’m proud of the fact that Brigham Young University does Education Week every year, and that so many people attend. To me, it’s something of a continuation of the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio, and a fulfillment of the counsel given in Doctrine and Covenants 88:

And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118-119)

The London England Temple is actually located quite a distance to the south of the city of London. (LDS Media Library image)

This article, which interested me personally, went up a few days ago in Meridian Magazine: “Who Pays Latter-day Saint Influencers?” It asks a good question, because I would like to find whoever it is who’s ladling out cash for Latter-day Saints who have an active presence online. Where do I get in on the deal?

One of the recurring accusations against me over at the Peterson Obsession Board — and perhaps elsewhere; I seldom look at any other sites of this kind — is that I’ve been enriching myself for many years (or, at least, gorging myself) at the expense of donors to the Interpreter Foundation or on the basis of tithing funds.

The accusation isn’t true, of course, but its falsity is no obstacle at all to the anonymous online obsessives who routinely level it.

The Fortaleza Brazil Temple was dedicated on 2 June 2019 by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is himself Brazilian. (LDS Media Library)

“This country now has the second-largest population of Latter-day Saints: ‘I was eager to come to Brazil, to any city, because I esteem the nation so highly,’ President Oaks said”

This is all pretty amazing when it’s realized that the first stake in Brazil was organized in São Paulo only on 1 May 1966. In fact, it was the first stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all of South America was organized in São Paulo on May 1, 1966. It was only twelve and a half years later, in November 1978, that the São Paulo Brazil Temple was dedicated — the first temple in South America. A breakthrough development, of course, was the June 1978 revelation on priesthood that was given through President Spencer W. Kimball, which opened ordination to the priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church, whereas, previously, men of black African descent were barred from the priesthood. And this, in turn, opened the blessings of the temple to everybody of black African descent — and helped to greatly accelerate missionary success in Brazil.

The official 2025 inaugural portrait of President Donald J. Trump

We already have the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, “Trump accounts” for children, the TrumpRx prescription drug program, the forthcoming TrumpIRA, the forthcoming “Trump class” of U.S. battleships, the Trump-branded U.S. National Park passes, Trump-branded U.S. passports, Donald J. Trump International Airport in Palm Beach, and all his personal properties, not to mention the banners featuring his face on a number of government buildings.

But it’s not enough. It’s not even close to enough. We need the Trump-Kennedy Center back. We need his image on Mount Rushmore. We need to rename the Washington Monument as Trump Tower. And we urgently need to name an aircraft carrier after him. I mean, the USS Doris Miller? Really? And what kind of a name, for a guy, is Doris Miller? And, anyway, what did this “Doris Miller” chap do that should rob our president of an aircraft carrier named after him?

I will soon be announcing that my house will be called The Trump-Peterson House. I already use a Trumpbrush on my teeth and TrumpTires on my car.

The Albuquerque New Mexico Temple (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I’m sorry, but it’s time for another exhibit from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™: “From Water Drives to Community Gardens, Latter-day Saints Serve Across U.S. Southwest Area: In New Mexico and Texas, Primary children, youth and adults are serving in their local communities”

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