“Vengeance Is Mine”

Mormon resigned after a great victory.

And it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and first year the Lamanites did come down to the city of Desolation to battle against us; and it came to pass that in that year we did beat them, insomuch that they did return to their own lands again.

And in the three hundred and sixty and second year they did come down again to battle. And we did beat them again, and did slay a great number of them, and their dead were cast into the sea.

Mormon 3:7-8

This seems like a time for gratitude and renewed faith in God. Instead, the people reacted in a way that was abhorrent to Mormon:

Because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to boast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies.

Mormon 3:9

As Mormon thought about this prideful attitude, the voice of God came into his mind, declaring:

Vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth.

Mormon 3:15; see also Deuteronomy 32:43, Romans 12:19

That was the moment he chose to resign. He had loved them, prayed for them, and fought with them, but he could no longer in good conscience be part of their violent and vindictive agenda.

It might be easy to think, “Those terrible Nephites! How could they be so harsh and spiteful?” But Mormon’s son Moroni gives us the same warning:

The same that judgeth rashly shall be judged rashly again; for according to his works shall his wages be; therefore, he that smiteth shall be smitten again, of the Lord.

Behold what the scripture says—man shall not smite, neither shall he judge; for judgment is mine, saith the Lord, and vengeance is mine also, and I will repay.

Mormon 8:19-20

People who speak in terms of vengeance and retribution are not in harmony with the Spirit of God. We need to expect more from ourselves, from the people around us, and from our political leaders.

I will never forget Truman G. Madsen’s interpretation of these scriptures during the commencement address at my college graduation:

We live in a generation that has an infinite capacity for taking offense and for scapegoating. In this view, somehow, whatever is wrong with the world, even with one’s own private world, is the fault of someone or something outside oneself. Of course we should all throw our energies into causes of fairness and justice, but there is a certain madness in the method of scapegoating. The agenda is vengeance, and vengeance is self-destructive. And He who said, “Vengeance is mine,” meant to say thereby that it is not yours. One of the crucial demands of your discipleship and a proof of your maturity is to break that chain of blame and to continually perfect yourself. The only one who can limit your growth, your learning, and your unfolding of potential is yourself.

“Upon Your Heads,” Commencement Address, Brigham Young University, 12 August 1993, italics added

Today, I will overcome feelings of vengeance in my own heart and encourage others to do the same. I will cultivate a spirit of personal responsibility and forgiveness. I will remember that God knows all things, and that I should therefore trust His judgment instead of my own.