< 1 Nephi 17 >

v. 19: and now when they saw that I began to be sorrowful they were glad in their hearts, insomuch that they did rejoice over me...

Sucks to be you
  • Schadenfreude (German loanword) → literally “harm-joy,” pleasure at another’s misfortune.
  • Gloating → showing smugness or delight when someone else fails.
  • Spiteful → motivated by meanness or the desire to see others hurt.

Bible
  • 1 Corinthians 13:6 (charity definition):“Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.”Love never delights in someone’s downfall, but is glad for their growth and goodness.
  • Proverbs 24:17–18:“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him…”Very clear: don’t be happy about others’ failures, even enemies.
  • Obadiah 1:12:“But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction…”Condemns gloating over others’ suffering.
Book of Mormon
  • Mosiah 4:14 (King Benjamin’s counsel):“…ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.”The devil delights in contention and failure; God’s people don’t.
  • 3 Nephi 12:44 (Christ’s Sermon at the Temple):“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.”The opposite of rejoicing in another’s fall.
Doctrine & Covenants
  • D&C 18:10, 15:“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God… And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”True joy is in lifting others up, not watching them fall.