MM: Scriptures in Music

Originally posted 25 September 2006

I'm actually focusing on two this week. One is a hymn from our hymn book and the other is a song from The Children's Songbook. I've heard them sung as a medley but I can't find it online to link to.


In Moroni:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how ^amerciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ^bponder it in your ^chearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things.

To borrow a line from a favorite LDS play of mine that follows a character's oral reading of the above verses, he ponders out loud: "Ye may know the truth."


Search, Ponder, and Pray is the song from the Children's Songbook. I think it's a beautiful piece instrumentally but when you hear the sweet, innocent voices of children singing...

1. I love to read the holy scriptures,
And, ev’ry time I do,
I feel the Spirit start to grow within my heart—
A testimony that they’re true.

2. So, prayerfully I’ll read the scriptures
Each day my whole life through.
I’ll come to understand.
I’ll heed the Lord’s command
And live as he would have me do.

ChorusSearch, ponder, and pray
Are the things that I must do.
The Spirit will guide, and, deep inside,
I’ll know the scriptures are true.

Words: Jaclyn Thomas Milne, b. 1949. © 1986 IRI

Music: Carol Baker Black, b. 1951. © 1986 IRI

The second one is called As I Search the Holy Scriptures.

1. As I search the holy scriptures,
Loving Father of mankind,
May my heart be blessed with wisdom,
And may knowledge fill my mind.

2. As I search the holy scriptures,
Touch my spirit, Lord, I pray.
May life’s myst’ries be unfolded
As I study day by day.

3. As I search the holy scriptures,
May thy mercy be revealed.
Soothe my troubled heart and spirit;
May my unseen wounds be healed.

4. As I search the holy scriptures,
Help me ponder and obey.
In thy word is life eternal;
May thy light show me the way.

Text and music: C. Marianne Johnson Fisher, b. 1932. © 1985 IRI

Let me reiterate:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things.

YE MAY KNOW THE TRUTH.