Book of Ether

Time

From the Tower of Babel to around 580 BCE. This is the record of the Jaredites — a people who preceded the Nephites in the promised land by centuries and were completely destroyed.

Main Content

The Book of Ether is a parallel narrative that Moroni abridges from the twenty-four gold plates discovered by the people of Limhi. It tells the story of the Jaredites, who left the Old World at the time of the Tower of Babel, crossing the ocean in eight barges “tight like unto a dish.” The brother of Jared — whose name is later revealed (in LDS teaching) as Mahonri Moriancumr — has such extraordinary faith that he sees the finger of the Lord and then the Lord himself, an encounter described as one of the most direct theophanies in scripture.

The Jaredites prosper in the promised land, establish a monarchy, and then descend into a cycle of dynastic violence, secret combinations, and civil war that makes the Nephite tragedy look restrained. The book culminates in a war of annihilation between two armies — led by Coriantumr and Shiz — that reduces the entire Jaredite civilization to two survivors. Coriantumr kills Shiz, then wanders alone until discovered by the Mulekites. The Jaredite story is the dark mirror of the Nephite story: the same land, the same covenant, the same destruction.

Key Characters

• The Brother of Jared: the founding prophet of extraordinary faith
• Coriantumr: the last Jaredite king, survivor of the final war
• Shiz: the rival commander in the war of annihilation

Major Themes

• Parallel Destinies: the Jaredites prefigure the Nephite fate
• Secret Combinations: the ultimate vehicle of civilizational collapse
• Faith as Sight: the brother of Jared’s theophany

Further Reading

• Book of Mormon — the parallel Nephite tragedy
• Book of Moroni
• Concepts: The Promised Land