Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/176

Jared, Brother of. building of the Tower of Babel, if not actually engaged in that work; though he and his brother had not fallen into idolatry, as had so many of the builders of that notorious edifice. When God scattered these presumptuous builders, Jared and his brother pleaded with the Lord that their language and that of their friends, might not be confounded. Their prayer was heard, their mother tongue was preserved. In answer to their further entreaties, the Lord promised to lead them into a land choice above all others, where He would make of them a great people; and He Himself would go before them, as their guide. In obedience to the heavenly command, Jared, his brother, and their friends, with their respective families, gathered their flocks, and seeds of various kinds, and started to follow as the Lord should lead.

The valley into which the Lord first led them was called Nimrod, after that mighty hunter of the early post-diluvian age. Here the people of Jared tarried for a time, while they prepared for the long journey which was before them. Their flocks and herds they had with them; they now went to work and snared fowls; they carried with them hives of honey bees (known to them by the name of deseret); and prepared a vessel in which they transported the fish of the waters. They appear to have collected everything that could possibly be of use to them. They were going to a land that had been swept clean by the waters of the Deluge; it had been bereft of all its animal life; the seeds of grains and fruits no longer germinated in its soil; and the colony had to replenish the continent with the animal and vegetable life necessary for their comfort and sustenance, as though it was a new earth. When in the valley of Nimrod, the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared. But the brother of Jared saw Him not, for the Lord remained concealed in a cloud. And God directed that the company