The Book of Ether identifies itself as Moroni’s abridgement of the Jaredite story discovered and translated by King Mosiah, as reported in the Book of Omni, and thus it gives the account of the Jaredites and the ancient travels that brought them to the Americas. The text, named for a Jaredite prophet who wrote the original account, runs for 15 chapters and covers roughly two millennia of history.

The story of the Book of Ether connects to the primeval biblical history told in Genesis 11, in which one of the earliest human civilizations attempts to build a structure—the Tower of Babel—high enough to reach the heavens. God punishes them for their pride and confuses the single language of humanity into many different languages, now mutually unintelligible, so that they are forced to break up their civilization and emigrate out across the world. The Book of Ether begins its contribution to that familiar story at that point, following the journey of one group, the descendants of Jared. Jared and his brother (an unnamed character who serves as a spiritual leader of the group) lead their family out at God’s direction, toward a distant promised land: “Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).