As you may remember, I typed the text of the Book of Mormon a few years ago. In that process, personalities and writing styles of the Book of Mormon writers spoke to me. Jarom is one of five one-chapter books in the Book of Mormon—Enos, Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon are grouped together and 4 Nephi comes later.

The book of Enos is remembered for his night-long prayer in the forest and for asking “How is it done, Lord?” The book of Omni is remembered because the duty of recordkeeper changes hands five times: Omni to Amaron, to Chemish, to Abinadom, to Amaleki, to Mosiah and King Benjamin. Words of Mormon is remembered because Mormon inserts an explanation about the large and small plates. He wrote hundreds of years after the coming of Jesus Christ. He prayed: “I, Mormon, pray to God that they (the plates) may be preserved from this time henceforth. And I know that they will be preserved; for there are great things written upon them, out of which my people and their brethren shall be judged at the great and last day, according to the word of God which is written” (Words of Mormon 1:11).

Each of these one-chapter books is only one of 239 chapters, a couple of pages out of 531, which is 0.418410042% of the Book of Mormon. Jarom is 731 words out of 269,528. Are any of his words memorable?

Of the people I surveyed, no one could remember anything in Jarom. Even Come, Follow Me 2024 gives only the briefest acknowledgement of Jarom’s book: “The books of Jarom and Omni both describe the relationship between righteousness and prosperity. What do you learn from Jarom 1:7–12?” That’s it.

I think I identify with Jarom because I am a lesser-known author (much, much, much lesser known than Jarom), but who, like Jarom, has written chapters in anthologies with famous people. I’m sure few people read my chapters and perhaps only my mother remembers anything I wrote. I also looked up “Jarom” in the LDS General Conference Corpus (https://www.lds-general-conference.org), and found that the word Jarom has been used in general conferences thirteen times between 1850 to 2024. Of these thirteen, most are footnotes or speaking about different persons named Jarom.

Despite all that, I think Jarom wrote impressively and importantly. Here’s a summary of Jarom’s fifteen verses:

Verse 1: He wrote to keep the commandment of his father, Enos, “that our genealogy may be kept.”

Verse 2: He was the first person in the Book of Mormon to use the phrase “plan of salvation.”

Verse 3: He listed the sins of his people and said: “Nevertheless… God is exceedingly merciful.”

Verse 4: Even though there was wickedness, “many (of the people) have revelations… faith… and communion with the Holy Spirit.”

Verse 5: The people observed the Sabbath; they did not profane or blaspheme. They kept the laws of the land that were very strict.

Verse 6: There were more Lamanites than Nephites. The Lamanites murdered and drank the blood of beasts.

Verse 7: The Lamanites came against the Nephites to battle many times, but the Nephite kings and leaders “were mighty men in the faith of the Lord.” The Nephites began to fortify their cities.

Verse 8: Jarom’s people worked hard and became rich in gold, silver, and precious things. They built buildings and had machinery. (He really used the word machinery.) They made all manner of tools to till the ground. They made weapons of war.

Verse 9: Jarom saw prophecy fulfilled: “Inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land.”

Verse 10: Prophets, I assume Jarom was one of them, warned the people that if they fell into transgression and did not repent, “they should be destroyed from off the face of the land.”

Verse 11: Their prophets, priests, and teachers taught the law of Moses, persuading the people “to look forward unto the Messiah and believe in him… as though he had already come.”

Verse 12: These teachings “stirred them up unto repentance” and kept them from being destroyed.

Verse 13: In verse 5, Jarom said it had been 200 years. In verse 13, he noted: “two hundred and thirty and eight years had passed away.” It seems that he was the recordkeeper for at least thirty-eight years.

Verse 14: Jarom concludes because the plates are small. He says there are two records being kept. The secular record in on the plates of Nephi.

Verse 15: Jarom delivered the plates to his son Omni with the same commandment he received from his father Enos.

Is anything in Jarom memorable to you? I remember that he was the first to use “plan of salvation.” I remember he taught his people to “look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was.” How important this is for us today! We look back to Jesus Christ’s role as Creator, back to His birth and ministry, back to His Atonement and Resurrection, back to His appearance in America—but do we look forward to His Second Coming with the same knowledge, testimony, and faith as though He had already come? Jarom explained why looking forward is vital for a civilization. Looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ “kept [the people] from being destroyed upon the face of the land” (Jarom 1:12).

Jarom offers another witness of the pride cycle. As overall prosperity increased, some had more earthly goods than others. Those who have more think they are superior. Inequality breeds pride, and pride breeds sin, which leads to the blessings of heaven being withdrawn. As wickedness grows, contention and war result. Then prophets preach, hearts soften, and repentance follows, inaugurating a new era of peace and righteousness. And we can’t forget he used the word machinery, which is found only this one time in all scripture.

Years before the Book of Mormon could be read on cellphones, I read the book of Jarom, holding my leather-bound scriptures in my hands. As I read, I felt a connection to Jarom and wrote these thoughts:

I’m too tired to read tonight.
“Oh, just one chapter,” says a still small voice.
Well, all right, where am I?
Remembering, I turn crinkly pages past Enos
to another one-chapter book—Jarom.
He writes to obey his father’s command.
He writes to bless future Lamanites.
But the plates are small; only fragments fit.
The righteous Nephites keep Moses’ law,
understand the plan of salvation,
believe in Christ as though he had already come.
Prophets prophesy and preach
to the stiff of neck, hard of heart, and deaf to truth.
Lamanites come, contending and warring often.
A familiar cycle recycles:
Righteous prosper, pride increases, war.
Prophets preach, pride decreases, peace.
Son Omni now to keep.
Pausing, the leather still between my hands,
a celestial panorama, unbidden,
lifts back the curtains of my mind.
I see glistening, white-robed beings conversing.
“Come,” my escort beckons.
Meekly following with naked feet on marbled floor,
we approach a group conversing.
Gesturing towards a heavenly man,
my escort says, after calling me by name,
“I would like you to meet Jarom.”
Looking up to meet his gentle eyes, I whisper,
“I’ve read your book.”