finger of God. He then saw and spoke with Jehovah. The people launched the vessels and traveled through great storms. After 344 days, they arrived at the Americas. Jared and his brother led the people to successfully establish a righteous nation. Parallels The Book of Ether parallels in many ways the story of the Book of Mormon as a whole. A small group (Jared and his companions; Lehi and his family) separate themselves from a wicked society (the Tower of Babel; Jerusalem just prior to its destruction) and establish a new nation (the Jaredites; the Nephites) in "the promised land." In each case the group is divided following the death of the original leaders and the divisions contend for many generations. The fortunes of the nations are dependent upon their obedience to God—righteousness brings prosperity and wickedness brings destruction (sometimes delayed). Ultimately, the wicked prevail and the nation is destroyed. These parallels are often emphasized in Mormonism as applicable to the present day. The Americas are still considered "the promised land" and the continued prosperity of the present nations are believed to be contingent on the righteousness of their people. Provenance As the story is told in the Book of Mormon, what later was named the Book of Ether was taken from a set of twenty-four plates written by Ether and discovered by the people of Limhi during the time of King Mosiah (son of King Benjamin). Joseph Smith claimed the book was abridged by Moroni onto the golden plates, which Joseph Smith claimed to translate into English. However, according to Daniel H. Ludlow, it is not clarified in the Book of Mormon whether Moroni made his abridgment of the record of Ether from Mosiah's earlier translation or whether Moroni took his account directly from the plates of Ether—in which case Joseph Smith would have needed to translate the record as well as abridge it. See also Archaeology and the Book of Mormon Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon Columbian Exchange Dené–Yeniseian languages Genetics and the Book of Mormon Historicity of the Book of Mormon Linguistics and the Book of Mormon List of pre-Columbian engineering projects in the Americas Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact Notes Further reading , as reprinted by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, BYU. External links The Book of Ether from the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Event Diagram of