Ether
The last prophet of the Jaredites — who wrote from hiding as his entire civilization destroyed itself, leaving a record of faith that endures as one of the most profound in all scripture.
The Last Voice of a Dying People
Ether was a descendant of Coriantor and a prophet raised up at the very end of the Jaredite civilization. He prophesied during the final civil wars that were tearing the nation apart, calling the people to repentance and promising destruction if they would not turn. They would not listen. King Coriantumr tried to have him killed, but Ether escaped and hid in the cavity of a rock by day, writing his record and going out at night to observe the destruction unfolding around him.
He watched millions die. He continued writing. Moroni, who abridged his record, noted that Ether was “rejected of all men” (Ether 13:13) — but he still wrote, still prophesied, still witnessed. The act of recording was itself an act of faith that the record would someday matter, even if no one living wanted to hear it.
The Vision of the New Jerusalem
Among Ether’s prophecies was a remarkable vision of a New Jerusalem to be built on the American continent in the latter days — a holy city where the remnants of the house of Israel would gather. He saw it in connection with the heavenly city described by John in Revelation. Moroni included this prophecy specifically because it was relevant to the readers of the Book of Mormon, not just to the Jaredites.
Ether also wrote what has become one of the most beloved treatments of faith in all of scripture — the chapter Moroni preserved in Ether 12. Its opening definition — “faith is things which are hoped for and not seen” — and its catalogue of ancient faith, including the account of the Brother of Jared’s faith in touching the stones, make it the Book of Mormon’s counterpart to Hebrews 11.
The End of the Jaredites
Ether had prophesied to Coriantumr that he would survive to see a new people possess the land if he would not repent — but that his bones would be buried among them, and all his household would be destroyed. Coriantumr did not repent. He was the last Jaredite standing, and he lived long enough to be discovered by the people of Zarahemla (Mulek’s people), just as Ether had said.
Ether’s own end is simply recorded: he finished his record and hid it where Limhi’s people would later find it. “Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God” (Ether 15:34). He expressed no attachment to his own survival — only to the record and the kingdom.
Ether 15:34
“Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God.”
What Ether Teaches
Ether prophesied and recorded in total isolation, without any visible fruit, watching his people annihilate themselves. His faith was not supported by revival or community or response — it was naked trust in God and in the value of truth, even when no one wanted to hear it. He is the model of the prophet who speaks because truth must be spoken, not because audiences are ready to receive it.
His writing on faith endures as one of the most theologically rich passages in the Book of Mormon — composed by a man who demonstrated that faith costs everything, and that it is still worth it.
Key Scriptures
- Ether 12:6 — Faith defined: things hoped for and not seen
- Ether 12:7–22 — Catalogue of faith in ancient times
- Ether 13 — Ether’s prophecy of the New Jerusalem; hides in a cave
- Ether 15:33–34 — Ether finishes his record; final words
- Omni 1:21 — Coriantumr found by the people of Zarahemla, as prophesied