Jared
The founder of the Jaredite nation, who led his people from the Tower of Babel to a choice land
The Petition at the Tower
Jared was a man living near the great tower that the Book of Ether identifies as the Tower of Babel, the moment when God confounded the language of the earth and scattered the people. Jared turned to his brother—a man of remarkable faith whose name is not given in the text, known only as the “brother of Jared”—with an urgent request:
Ether 1:34–35
“And the brother of Jared being a large and mighty man, and a man highly favored of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the language of Jared.”
Jared then asked that the language of their families and friends also be preserved. This was granted. Then Jared asked: if the people of this land were to be scattered, perhaps God would lead them to “a land which is choice above all the earth” (Ether 1:42).
The Journey
The Lord agreed and directed the group—Jared, his brother, their families, and friends—to gather seeds, flocks, and provisions for a long journey. They traveled through a wilderness, built barges to cross many waters, and camped by the sea for four years (Ether 2:13). During that pause the Lord appeared to the brother of Jared in a cloud and chastened him for three hours because they had neglected to pray.
After this rebuke and renewed direction, the Lord instructed them to build eight barges to cross the great deep. The brother of Jared’s solution for providing light in the sealed barges—touching sixteen stones and asking God to make them shine—became the occasion for the great vision recorded in Ether 3, one of the most remarkable theophanies in all scripture (Ether 3).
The group crossed the ocean in 344 days, driven by wind, landing on the shores of the promised land of the Americas.
Jared’s Character
Jared consistently initiates: he asks his brother to pray, he proposes petitions to extend God’s mercy to their friends, and he envisions the destination before it is granted. He is not the great spiritual figure of the record—that is his brother—but he is the one whose repeated urgings drive the community’s relationship with God forward at critical moments.
Near the end of his life, Jared’s daughters convinced Jared’s sons and grandsons to seek a king—which Jared and his brother warned against, correctly foreseeing that it would lead to captivity (Ether 6:22–25). Their warning was ignored; the Jaredite civilization eventually destroyed itself in the very manner they had foretold.
When he died, Jared “wept with joy before the Lord” because he had seen that his people were blessed and prosperous. The book of Ether records that he “gathered together his people” for a final time and died as a patriarch whose nation was established, even if its long story would prove tragic (Ether 6:28–30).
Key Scriptures
- Ether 1:33–43 — Jared’s petitions at the tower; language preserved
- Ether 2 — The journey and the building of the barges
- Ether 6:12–30 — Crossing the ocean; Jared’s final years