Ether 8 and 9: Secret Combinations are the Devil's -Result is destruction of nation

JARED, SON OF OMER

OMER

1... And Omer begat Jared; and Jared begat sons and daughters.

2 And Jared rebelled against his father, and came and dwelt in the land of Heth. And it came to pass that he did ^aflatter many people,  because of his cunning words, until he had gained the half of the kingdom.

3 And when he had gained the half of the kingdom he gave battle

unto his father, and he did carry away his father into captivity, and did make him serve in captivity;

JARED THREW HIS FATHER, OMER, INTO CAPTIVITY

4 And now, in the days of the reign of Omer he was in ^acaptivity the half of his days.

Esrom and Coriantumr didn't like their brother Jared.

And it came to pass that he [OMER] begat sons and daughters, among whom were Esrom and Coriantumr;

5 And they were exceedingly angry because of the doings of Jared their brother, insomuch that they

did raise an army and gave battle

unto Jared. 

JARED

And it came to pass that they did give battle unto him by night.

So Esrom and Coriantumr spared Jared's life when Jared promised to give the kingdom back to Dad.

6 And it came to pass that when they had slain the army of Jared they were about to slay him also; and he pled with them that they would not slay him, and he would give up the kingdom unto his father. And it came to pass that they did grant unto him his life.

7 And now Jared became exceedingly ^asorrowful because of the loss of the kingdom, for he had set his heart upon the kingdom and upon the glory of the world.

JARED

8 Now the daughter of Jared being exceedingly expert, and seeing the sorrows of her father, thought to devise a plan whereby she could redeem the kingdom unto her father.

Jared's daughter was beautiful, smart, but evil.

9 Now the daughter of Jared was exceedingly fair. And it came to pass that she did talk with her father, and said unto him: Whereby hath my father so much sorrow? Hath he not read the ^arecord which our fathers brought across the great deep? Behold, is there not an ^baccount concerning them of ^cold, that they by their ^dsecret plans did obtain kingdoms and great glory?

10 And now, therefore, let my father send for Akish, the son of Kimnor; and behold, I am fair, and I will dance before him, and I will please him, that he will desire me to wife; wherefore if he shall desire of thee that ye shall give unto him me to wife, then shall ye say: I will give her if ye will bring unto me the  ^ahead of my father, the king.

Jared's daughter married Akish to help her father, Jared, kill her grandfather, Omer.

Akish was Omer's friend.

11 And now Omer was a friend to Akish; wherefore, when Jared had sent for Akish, the daughter of Jared danced before him that she pleased him, insomuch that he desired her to wife. And it came to pass that he said unto Jared: Give her unto me to wife.

12 And Jared said unto him: I will give her unto you, if ye will bring unto me the head of my father, the king.

Akish used Cain's secret oaths of murder to please his fiancee.

13 And it came to pass that Akish gathered in unto the house of Jared all his kinsfolk, and said unto them: Will ye swear unto me that ye will be faithful unto me in the thing which I shall desire of you?

14 And it came to pass that they all ^asware unto him, by the God of heaven, and also by the heavens, and also by the earth, and by their heads, that whoso should vary from the assistance which Akish desired should lose his head; and whoso should divulge whatsoever thing Akish made known unto them, the same should lose his life.

15 And it came to pass that thus they did agree with ^aAkish. And Akish did administer unto them the oaths which were given by them of old who also sought power, which had been handed down even from ^bCain, who was a murderer from the beginning.

16 And they were kept up by the ^apower of the devil to administer these oaths unto the people, to keep them in darkness, to help such as sought power to gain power, and to murder, and to plunder, and to lie, and to commit all manner of wickedness and whoredoms.

Akish led the secret combination and gave it to his friends with many promises

17 And it was the daughter of Jared who put it into his heart to search up these things of old; and Jared put it into the heart of Akish; wherefore, Akish administered it unto his kindred and friends, leading them away by fair promises to do whatsoever thing he desired.

18 And it came to pass that they formed a secret ^acombination, even as they of old; which combination is most abominable and wicked above all, in the sight of God;

19 For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood,
but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man.

20 And now I, Moroni, do not write the manner of their oaths and combinations, for it hath been made known unto me that they are had ^aamong all people, and they are had among the Lamanites.

21 And they have caused the ^adestruction of this people of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi.

22 And whatsoever ^anation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed;


for the Lord will not suffer that the ^bblood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for ^cvengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.

23 Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get ^apower and gain--




—and the work, yea, even the work of ^bdestruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

24 Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake   to a sense of your awful situation, because of this ^asecret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust



 for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.

25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to

overthrow the ^afreedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who ^bbeguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath ^chardened the hearts of men that they have ^dmurdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.

Moroni wrote this history for us.

26 Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have ^ano power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be ^bpersuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all ^crighteousness and be saved.

1 And now I, Moroni, proceed with my record. Therefore, behold, it came to pass that because of the ^asecret combinations of Akish 

and his friends, behold, they did overthrow the kingdom of Omer.

The Lord warned Omer to leave his country.

2 Nevertheless, the Lord was merciful unto Omer, and also to his sons and to his daughters who did not seek his destruction.

ABLOM, OMER'S NEW HOME

3 And the Lord ^awarned Omer in a dream that he should depart out of the land; wherefore Omer ^bdeparted out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of ^cShim, and came over by the place ^dwhere the Nephites were destroyed, and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom,
by the seashore, and there he pitched his tent, and also his sons and his daughters, and all his household, save it were Jared and his family.

4 And it came to pass that Jared was anointed king over the people, by the hand of wickedness; and he gave unto Akish his daughter to wife.

JARED BECAME KING BUT WAS SOON KILLED

5 And it came to pass that Akish ^asought the life of his father-in-law; and he applied unto those whom he had sworn by the ^boath of the ancients, and they obtained the head of his father-in-law, as he sat upon his throne, giving audience to his people.

6 For so great had been the spreading of this wicked and secret society that it had corrupted the hearts of all the people; therefore Jared was murdered upon his throne, and Akish reigned in his stead.

AKISH BECAME KING WHEN JARED WAS MURDERED

AKISH STARVED HIS OWN SON TO DEATH IN PRISON

7 And it came to pass that Akish began to be ^ajealous of his son, therefore he shut him up in prison, and kept him upon little or no food until he had suffered death.

   

NIMRAH WAS ANGRY THAT HIS BROTHER WAS STARVED TO DEATH

8 And now the brother of him that suffered death, (and his name was Nimrah) was angry with his father because of that which his father had done unto his brother.



NIMRAH AND HIS FRIENDS JOINED WITH OMER.

9 And it came to pass that Nimrah gathered together a small number of men, and fled out of the land, and came over and dwelt with Omer.

10 And it came to pass that Akish begat other sons, and they won the hearts of the people, notwithstanding they had sworn unto him to do all manner of iniquity according to that which he desired.

11 Now the people of Akish were desirous for gain, even as Akish was desirous for ^apower; 

AKISH

MONEY PERSUADED PEOPLE TO JOIN AKISH'S SONS' GROUP

wherefore, the sons of Akish did offer them ^bmoney, by which means they drew away the more part of the people after them.

12 And there began to be a war between the sons of Akish and Akish, which lasted for the space of many years, yea, unto the destruction of nearly all the people of the kingdom, yea, even all, save it were thirty souls, and they who fled with the house of Omer.

13 Wherefore, Omer was restored again to the ^aland of his inheritance.

14 And it came to pass that Omer began to be old; nevertheless, in his old age he begat Emer; and he anointed Emer to be king to reign in his stead.

EMER, SON OF THE AGED OMER

15 And after that he had anointed Emer to be king he saw peace in the land for the space of two years, and he died, having seen exceedingly many days, which were full of sorrow. And it came to pass that Emer did reign in his stead, and did fill the steps of his father.

16 And the Lord began again to take the curse from off the land, and the house of Emer did prosper exceedingly under the reign of Emer; and in the space of sixty and two years they had become exceedingly strong, insomuch that they became exceedingly rich—

17 Having ^aall manner of fruit, and of grain, and of ^bsilks, and of fine linen, and of ^cgold, and of silver, and of precious things;

18 And also ^aall manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of sheep, and of swine, and of goats, and also many other kinds of animals which were useful for the food of man.

19 And they also had ^ahorses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms.

20 And thus the Lord did pour out his blessings upon this land, which was ^achoice above all other lands; and he commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be ^bdestroyed when they were ripened in iniquity; for upon such, saith the Lord: I will pour out the fulness of my wrath.

EMER SAW JESUS

21 And Emer did execute judgment in righteousness all his days, and he begat many sons and daughters;

EMER HAD MANY CHILDREN

 and he begat Coriantum, and he anointed Coriantum to reign in his stead.

CORIANTUM, EMER'S SON, BECAME KING

22 And after he had anointed Coriantum to reign in his stead he lived four years, and he saw peace in
the land; yea, and he even saw the ^aSon of Righteousness,

JESUS VISITED EMER

and did rejoice and glory in his day; and he died in peace.

Coriantum was a good ruler like his father, Emer.
  But he had no children for the first 142 years of his life.

    23 And it came to pass that Coriantum did walk in the steps of his father, and did build many mighty cities,                               


   and did administer that which was good unto his people in all his days. And it came to pass that he had no children even until he was exceedingly ^aold.

Coriantum's first wife's age when she died.
Also, Coriantum's age, when he died.

24 And it came to pass that his wife died, being an hundred and two years old. And it came to pass that Coriantum

Widowed and very, very old, Coriantum married again.
This time he had children.

took to wife, in his old age, a young maid, and begat sons and daughters; wherefore he lived until he was an hundred and forty and two years old.

HETH, SON OF CORIANTUM, WENT TO THE DARK SIDE.

25 And it came to pass that he begat Com, and Com reigned in his stead; and he reigned forty and nine years, and he begat Heth;



and he also begat other sons and daughters.

26 And the people had spread again over all the face of the land, and there began again to be an exceedingly great wickedness upon the face of the land, and ^aHeth began to embrace the secret plans again of old, to destroy his father.

27 And it came to pass that he did dethrone his father, for he slew him with his own sword; and he did reign in his stead.

HETH KILLED HIS FATHER FOR THE THRONE

28 And there came prophets in the land ^aagain, crying repentance unto them—that they must prepare the way of the Lord or there should come a curse upon the face of the land; yea, even there should be a great famine, in which they should be destroyed if they did not repent.

Prophets came to warn the people of Heth.

29 But the people believed not the words of the prophets, but they cast them out; and some of them they cast into ^apits and left them to perish.

Heth's people cast the prophets into pits to die.

And it came to pass that they did all these things according to the commandment of the king, Heth.

30 And it came to pass that there began to be a great ^adearth upon the land,



and the inhabitants began to be destroyed exceedingly fast because of the dearth, for there was no rain upon the face of the earth.

31 And there came forth ^apoisonous serpents also upon the face of the land, and did poison many people.

Fleeing flocks afraid of the poisonous serpents

And it came to pass that their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents, towards the land ^bsouthward, which was called by the Nephites ^cZarahemla.

32 And it came to pass that there were many of them which did perish by the way; nevertheless, there were some which fled into the land southward.

33 And it came to pass that the Lord did cause the ^aserpents that they should pursue them no more, but that they should hedge up the way that the people could not pass, that whoso should attempt to pass might fall by the poisonous serpents.

34 And it came to pass that the people did follow the course of the beasts,

People followed the animals to eat the ones that had fallen.

and did devour the ^acarcasses of them which fell by the way, until they had devoured them all. Now when the people saw that they must ^bperish they began to ^crepent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord.

35 And it came to pass that when they had ^ahumbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the people began to revive again, and there began to be fruit    



in the north countries, and in all the countries round about. And the Lord did show forth his power

unto them in preserving them from famine.