The Jaredites descended from Jared and his brother, who left the great tower at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people and scattered them. At Jared’s request, the brother of Jared asked the Lord that their language, and that of their families and friends, not be confounded, and the Lord granted it (Ether 1:33-37). The Lord directed them toward a land “choice above all the lands of the earth” (Ether 1:42).
They went down into the valley of Nimrod, named after the mighty hunter (Ether 2:1), then traveled to the great sea, where they pitched their tents at a place they called Moriancumer and dwelt on the seashore four years (Ether 2:13). The Lord commanded that whoever possessed the land of promise must serve him or be swept off when ripened in iniquity (Ether 2:7-9). After building barges for the crossing, they were driven on the water 344 days before landing on the promised land (Ether 6:11-12).
When the people asked that one of the founders’ sons be anointed king, the brother of Jared warned that it would lead to captivity, but Jared allowed it. Pagag, the brother of Jared’s firstborn, refused the kingship, as did his brothers and all but one of Jared’s sons; Orihah was anointed king over the people (Ether 6:22-27).
In the days of Com, many prophets foretold the destruction of the people unless they repented; the prophets were rejected and fled to Com for protection, and the brother of his successor Shiblom later had all such prophets put to death amid great calamity (Ether 11:1-6). In the days of Coriantor, more prophets called the people to repent and warned that the Lord would otherwise bring forth another people to possess the land, but the people rejected them because of their secret society and abominations (Ether 11:20-23). The Jaredites formed secret combinations to get power and gain, which Moroni states caused the destruction of both the Jaredites and the people of Nephi (Ether 8:18-26). Moroni breaks from the narrative to address future Gentile inhabitants of the land directly, relaying the Lord’s commandment that they “awake to a sense of your awful situation” when such combinations arise among them, and warning that any nation upholding secret combinations will be destroyed; Moroni states he is commanded to write these things that evil may be done away (Ether 8:23-26).
Moroni finishes the record with the destruction of the people (Ether 13:1). In the final war between Coriantumr and Shiz, the armies fought until all had fallen save the two leaders; Coriantumr cut off Shiz’s head, and Shiz died, leaving Coriantumr as the sole survivor of the Jaredites (Ether 15:29-32).