Emphasis Scriptures

The word 'former' occurs 70 times in the standard works.

9 of those occurances are found in the list of scriptures highlighted below. These verses have the highest concentration of the word 'former' in the standard works and contain 12.9% of all occurances. Assuming 30 seconds per verse, it would take about 3 minutes to read the entire list.

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Ezek. 16:55 (3 in 1 verse)


Joel 2:23 (2 in 1 verse)

 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.




Isa. 65:16-17 (2 in 2 verses)

JS-H 1:34-35 (2 in 2 verses)

Exact Word Count

  FULL PART ALL
OT 45 0 45
NT 5 0 5
BM 3 0 3
DC 15 0 15
PGP 2 0 2
TOTAL 70 0 70

Gen. 40:13
Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

Num. 21:26
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.

Deut. 24:4
Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Ruth 4:7
Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.

1 Sam. 17:30
And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

2 Kgs. 1:14
Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.

2 Kgs. 17:34
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

2 Kgs. 17:40
Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

Neh. 5:15
But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

Job 8:8
For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:

Job 30:3
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

Ps. 79:8
O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.

Ps. 89:49
Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

Eccl. 1:11
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

Eccl. 7:10
Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

Isa. 41:22
Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

Isa. 42:9
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Isa. 43:9
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

Isa. 43:18
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Isa. 46:9
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Isa. 48:3
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

Isa. 61:4
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

Isa. 65:7
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

Isa. 65:16
That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

Isa. 65:17
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Jer. 5:24
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Jer. 10:16
The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.

Jer. 34:5
But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.

Jer. 36:28
Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.

Jer. 51:19
The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.

Ezek. 16:55
When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

Dan. 11:13
For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.

Dan. 11:29
At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.

Hosea 6:3
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Joel 2:23
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

Hag. 2:9
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

Zech. 1:4
Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.

Zech. 7:7
Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

Zech. 7:12
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

Zech. 8:11
But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.

Zech. 14:8
And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

Mal. 3:4
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

Acts 1:1
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Eph. 4:22
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Heb. 10:32
But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

1 Pet. 1:14
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

Rev. 21:4
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

1 Ne. 20:3
Behold, I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. I did show them suddenly.

Alma 31:6
Therefore he took Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner; and Himni he did leave in the church in Zarahemla; but the former three he took with him, and also Amulek and Zeezrom, who were at Melek; and he also took two of his sons.

3 Ne. 24:4
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

D&C 56:8
And again, verily I say unto you, that my servant Ezra Thayre must repent of his pride, and of his selfishness, and obey the former commandment which I have given him concerning the place upon which he lives.

D&C 61:9
But now, verily I say, it behooveth me that ye should part. Wherefore let my servants Sidney Gilbert and William W. Phelps take their former company, and let them take their journey in haste that they may fill their mission, and through faith they shall overcome;

D&C 82:7
And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.

D&C 84:57
And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written--

D&C 84:76
But, verily I say unto all those to whom the kingdom has been given-- from you it must be preached unto them, that they shall repent of their former evil works; for they are to be upbraided for their evil hearts of unbelief, and your brethren in Zion for their rebellion against you at the time I sent you.

D&C 92:2
And again, I say unto you my servant Frederick G. Williams, you shall be a lively member in this order; and inasmuch as you are faithful in keeping all former commandments you shall be blessed forever. Amen.

D&C 101:10
I have sworn, and the decree hath gone forth by a former commandment which I have given unto you, that I would let fall the sword of mine indignation in behalf of my people; and even as I have said, it shall come to pass.

D&C 101:68
Nevertheless, as I have said unto you in a former commandment, let not your gathering be in haste, nor by flight; but let all things be prepared before you.

D&C 102:27
Should the parties or either of them be dissatisfied with the decision of said council, they may appeal to the high council of the seat of the First Presidency of the Church, and have a re-hearing, which case shall there be conducted, according to the former pattern written, as though no such decision had been made.

D&C 102:31
From the decision of the former there can be an appeal; but from the decision of the latter there cannot.

D&C 103:12
For after much tribulation, as I have said unto you in a former commandment, cometh the blessing.

D&C 104:24
And again, let my servant Martin Harris have appointed unto him, for his stewardship, the lot of land which my servant John Johnson obtained in exchange for his former inheritance, for him and his seed after him;

D&C 105:14
For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil-- I will fight your battles.

D&C 128:2
I wrote a few words of revelation to you concerning a recorder. I have had a few additional views in relation to this matter, which I now certify. That is, it was declared in my former letter that there should be a recorder, who should be eye-witness, and also to hear with his ears, that he might make a record of a truth before the Lord.

D&C 135:2
John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.

JS-H 1:34
He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;

JS-H 1:35
Also, that there were two stones in silver bows-- and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim-- deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted "seers" in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.