Emphasis Scriptures

The word 'cannot' occurs 412 times in the standard works.

99 of those occurances are found in the list of scriptures highlighted below. These verses have the highest concentration of the word 'cannot' in the standard works and contain 24% of all occurances. Assuming 30 seconds per verse, it would take about 36 minutes to read the entire list.

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D&C 88:22-24 (5 in 3 verses)

D&C 132:17-21 (5 in 5 verses)

Moro. 7:10-11 (4 in 2 verses)

Alma 11:37 (3 in 1 verse)

Job 23:8-9 (3 in 2 verses)

2 Cor. 12:2-3 (3 in 2 verses)

D&C 132:61-62 (3 in 2 verses)

Job 28:15-17 (3 in 3 verses)

Isa. 44:18-20 (3 in 3 verses)

Mark 3:24-26 (3 in 3 verses)

Ruth 4:6 (2 in 1 verse)

Eccl. 1:15 (2 in 1 verse)

Isa. 38:18 (2 in 1 verse)

Isa. 59:1 (2 in 1 verse)

Jer. 10:5 (2 in 1 verse)

1 Cor. 10:21 (2 in 1 verse)

Mosiah 4:29 (2 in 1 verse)

Mosiah 15:27 (2 in 1 verse)

Alma 12:18 (2 in 1 verse)

Alma 18:3 (2 in 1 verse)

Alma 30:15 (2 in 1 verse)

Alma 34:34 (2 in 1 verse)

Hel. 13:31 (2 in 1 verse)

3 Ne. 5:8 (2 in 1 verse)

D&C 10:37 (2 in 1 verse)

D&C 105:5 (2 in 1 verse)

D&C 128:15 (2 in 1 verse)

D&C 135:7 (2 in 1 verse)

Isa. 56:10-11 (2 in 2 verses)

Luke 14:26-27 (2 in 2 verses)

John 8:21-22 (2 in 2 verses)

Heb. 12:27-28 (2 in 2 verses)

1 Ne. 15:33-34 (2 in 2 verses)

2 Ne. 27:17-18 (2 in 2 verses)

Alma 32:9-10 (2 in 2 verses)

Hel. 16:20-21 (2 in 2 verses)

Moro. 7:42-43 (2 in 2 verses)

Moro. 9:18-19 (2 in 2 verses)


D&C 103:32-33 (2 in 2 verses)

 103:32 Therefore, if you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred.

 103:33 And if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred.




D&C 104:8-9 (2 in 2 verses)

D&C 124:71-72 (2 in 2 verses)

D&C 131:3-4 (2 in 2 verses)

Exact Word Count

  FULL PART ALL
OT 113 0 113
NT 71 0 71
BM 131 0 131
DC 89 0 89
PGP 8 0 8
TOTAL 412 0 412

D&C 1:31
For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;

D&C 3:1
The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.

D&C 6:34
Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.

D&C 9:9
But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.

D&C 10:37
But as you cannot always judge the righteous, or as you cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous, therefore I say unto you, hold your peace until I shall see fit to make all things known unto the world concerning the matter.

D&C 14:9
Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who created the heavens and the earth, a light which cannot be hid in darkness;

D&C 18:25
Wherefore, if they know not the name by which they are called, they cannot have place in the kingdom of my Father.

D&C 18:46
And after that you have received this, if you keep not my commandments you cannot be saved in the kingdom of my Father.

D&C 19:22
For they cannot bear meat now, but milk they must receive; wherefore, they must not know these things, lest they perish.

D&C 20:29
And we know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and worship the Father in his name, and endure in faith on his name to the end, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.

D&C 22:2
Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the strait gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works.

D&C 25:15
Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come.

D&C 29:29
And now, behold, I say unto you, never at any time have I declared from mine own mouth that they should return, for where I am they cannot come, for they have no power.

D&C 29:44
And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not;

D&C 29:47
Wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me;

D&C 38:7
But behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that mine eyes are upon you. I am in your midst and ye cannot see me;

D&C 38:37
And they that have farms that cannot be sold, let them be left or rented as seemeth them good.

D&C 39:16
Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the people in Ohio call upon me in much faith, thinking I will stay my hand in judgment upon the nations, but I cannot deny my word.

D&C 42:30
And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken.

D&C 42:32
And it shall come to pass, that after they are laid before the bishop of my church, and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the consecration of the properties of my church, that they cannot be taken from the church, agreeable to my commandments, every man shall be made accountable unto me, a steward over his own property, or that which he has received by consecration, as much as is sufficient for himself and family.

D&C 45:70
And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand.

D&C 50:21
Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?

D&C 50:31
Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God.

D&C 50:40
Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.

D&C 58:3
Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

D&C 62:6
Behold, I, the Lord, have brought you together that the promise might be fulfilled, that the faithful among you should be preserved and rejoice together in the land of Missouri. I, the Lord, promise the faithful and cannot lie.

D&C 67:8
But if ye cannot make one like unto it, ye are under condemnation if ye do not bear record that they are true.

D&C 68:23
And inasmuch as he is found guilty before this Presidency, by testimony that cannot be impeached, he shall be condemned;

D&C 76:112
And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end.

D&C 78:6
For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things;

D&C 78:11
Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, to prepare and organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken.

D&C 78:18
And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

D&C 80:3
Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.

D&C 82:11
Therefore, verily I say unto you, that it is expedient for my servants Edward Partridge and Newel K. Whitney, A. Sidney Gilbert and Sidney Rigdon, and my servant Joseph Smith, and John Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, and W. W. Phelps and Martin Harris to be bound together by a bond and covenant that cannot be broken by transgression, except judgment shall immediately follow, in your several stewardships--

D&C 84:40
Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.

D&C 84:62
Therefore, go ye into all the world; and unto whatsoever place ye cannot go ye shall send, that the testimony may go from you into all the world unto every creature.

D&C 84:119
For I, the Lord, have put forth my hand to exert the powers of heaven; ye cannot see it now, yet a little while and ye shall see it, and know that I am, and that I will come and reign with my people.

D&C 88:22
For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.

D&C 88:23
And he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory.

D&C 88:24
And he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory.

D&C 88:35
That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still.

D&C 88:66
Behold, that which you hear is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness-- in the wilderness, because you cannot see him-- my voice, because my voice is Spirit; my Spirit is truth; truth abideth and hath no end; and if it be in you it shall abound.

D&C 91:6
And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited. Therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen.

D&C 93:34
And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.

D&C 97:19
And the nations of the earth shall honor her, and shall say: Surely Zion is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fall, neither be moved out of her place, for God is there, and the hand of the Lord is there;

D&C 101:5
For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.

D&C 102:6
Voted: that the high council cannot have power to act without seven of the above-named councilors, or their regularly appointed successors are present.

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 103:32
Therefore, if you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred.

D&C 103:33
And if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred.

D&C 104:8
Therefore, inasmuch as you are found transgressors, you cannot escape my wrath in your lives.

D&C 104:9
Inasmuch as ye are cut off for transgression, ye cannot escape the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.

D&C 105:5
And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.

D&C 105:11
And this cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high.

D&C 105:21
And those that cannot stay, who have families in the east, let them tarry for a little season, inasmuch as my servant Joseph shall appoint unto them;

D&C 107:70
For unless he is a literal descendant of Aaron he cannot hold the keys of that priesthood.

D&C 109:52
And if it cannot be otherwise, that the cause of thy people may not fail before thee may thine anger be kindled, and thine indignation fall upon them, that they may be wasted away, both root and branch, from under heaven;

D&C 112:17
That thou mayest be my servant to unlock the door of the kingdom in all places where my servant Joseph, and my servant Sidney, and my servant Hyrum, cannot come;

D&C 121:36
That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.

D&C 122:9
Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

D&C 124:30
For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me.

D&C 124:33
For verily I say unto you, that after you have had sufficient time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing for the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead cannot be acceptable unto me;

D&C 124:71
And if they do appropriate any portion of that stock anywhere else, only in that house, without the consent of the stockholder, and do not repay four-fold for the stock which they appropriate anywhere else, only in that house, they shall be accursed, and shall be moved out of their place, saith the Lord God; for I, the Lord, am God, and cannot be mocked in any of these things.

D&C 124:72
Verily I say unto you, let my servant Joseph pay stock into their hands for the building of that house, as seemeth him good; but my servant Joseph cannot pay over fifteen thousand dollars stock in that house, nor under fifty dollars; neither can any other man, saith the Lord.

D&C 124:99
And he shall be led in paths where the poisonous serpent cannot lay hold upon his heel, and he shall mount up in the imagination of his thoughts as upon eagles' wings.

D&C 128:15
And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers-- that they without us cannot be made perfect-- neither can we without our dead be made perfect.

D&C 128:18
I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other-- and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.

D&C 131:3
And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.

D&C 131:4
He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.

D&C 131:8
We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.

D&C 132:17
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.

D&C 132:18
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.

D&C 132:21
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.

D&C 132:33
But if ye enter not into my law ye cannot receive the promise of my Father, which he made unto Abraham.

D&C 132:61
And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood-- if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.

D&C 132:62
And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.

D&C 134:11
We believe that men should appeal to the civil law for redress of all wrongs and grievances, where personal abuse is inflicted or the right of property or character infringed, where such laws exist as will protect the same; but we believe that all men are justified in defending themselves, their friends, and property, and the government, from the unlawful assaults and encroachments of all persons in times of exigency, where immediate appeal cannot be made to the laws, and relief afforded.

D&C 135:3
Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

D&C 135:7
They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to "Mormonism" that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.

D&C 137:1
The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether in the body or out I cannot tell.