Elder James E. Talmage testified: “The translation of the Book of Mormon was effected through the power of God manifested in the bestowal of the gift of revelation. … Joseph Smith received from the angel other sacred treasures, including a breastplate, to which were attached the Urim and Thummim … and by the use of these he was enabled to translate the ancient records into our modern tongue” (Articles of Faith, 273).
Elder Talmage also wrote: “There will be, there can be, no absolutely reliable translation of … scriptures unless it be effected through the gift of translation, as one of the endowments of the Holy Ghost. The translator must have the spirit of the prophet if he would render in another tongue the prophet’s words; and human wisdom alone leads not to that possession” (Articles of Faith, 241).
Mormon promises that an account from the record of the Jaredites translated by Mosiah (see Mosiah 28:17) from twenty-four gold plates found by the people of Limhi (see Mosiah 8:7–8) would be written in a future day. He records that “it is expedient that all people should know the things which are written in this account” (Mosiah 28:19). Mormon’s son Moroni eventually fulfills this promise in his abridgment of the book of Ether, the record of a group of people called the Jaredites (see Title Page of the Book of Mormon). More than two thousand years before the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ, the Lord led a man named Jared and his family and friends away from the Tower of Babel to a choice land (the Americas). The account records the rise and fall of a great nation. The book is named after the last great Jaredite prophet, who witnessed the destruction of his people and wrote the record (see Ether 1:6; 5:33–34). The book of Ether “serves as a microcosm of the whole Book of Mormon” (Rust, Feasting on the Word, 226) and is therefore a second witness of the importance of following and serving the God of Heaven.
What is the origin of the superscription in italics that precedes the opening text of the book of Ether? Unlike the superscriptions to other books and sections of books within the Book of Mormon, this one is not part of the ancient record translated by Joseph Smith. This superscription “is wanting in all but the current editions of the Book of Mormon and is not to be regarded as part of the original text. The note seems to have been inserted by the committee appointed to edit the text now in common use” (Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium, 460–61).
The chapter summary is presented in italics between the chapter number and the beginning of the scriptural text. The chapter summaries, first added in the 1920 edition of the Book of Mormon, give the reader an overview of what each chapter contains.
The Book of Ether—A Second Witness
The book of Ether covers 1,500 years of history. One purpose of the book of Ether is to serve as a second witness, along with the Nephite record, that those who live in a land “choice above all other lands” (see 1 Nephi 2:20; Ether 1:38, 42) must either serve God or be destroyed (see Ether 2:8–11). (See Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Doctrinal Commentary, 4:259). Consider the following comparison between the Jaredites and the people of Lehi:
JAREDITES SIMILARITY LEHITES
Ether 1:38, 42 Both peoples were brought by 1 Nephi 2:20 the Lord to a promised land which was “choice above all other lands”
Ether 3:13 Both groups were led by mighty 1 Nephi 1:8 prophets who saw the Lord
Ether 6:27–28; 7:1 Both peoples experienced 4 Nephi 1:2–23 prosperity during times of righteousness
Ether 3:9–19 Both testified of the reality of 3 Nephi 11–28 Jesus Christ
Ether 7:20 Both experienced a major 2 Nephi 5:5–7 division of the people into two groups
Ether 13:20–21 Both experienced great Mormon 6:17–18 destruction because of wickedness
Ether 13:22 Both destructions are survived Mormon 8:3 by a lone prophet–record keeper who was rejected and hunted by his people
(Garner, Search These Things Diligently, 307. Used by permission.)