The Lord then led the Jaredite group in a general eastward direction toward the vast unknown and unpopulated “wilderness” of Asia until they came to an inland “sea in the wilderness” called “many waters” (Ether 2:5-7). What is meant by the term “sea” and the phrase “many waters” when describing a body of water? A sea is defined as an expanse of salt water that covers most of the earth's surface and surrounds its land masses. The term “sea” is sometimes incorrectly used to describe a fresh water lake, for example, the Sea of Galillee, which today is more accurately called Lake Kinneret. For this analysis, the term “sea” refers to bodies of salt water that are at least large enough so that one cannot readily see a land mass on the opposite side. This definition would apply to not only oceans but also large inland bodies of salt water like the Salton Sea in southern California and the Great Salt Lake (or Sea) in northern Utah.

The phrase “many waters” is used by Nephi elsewhere in the Book of Mormon to describe bodies of salt water. After traveling eastward through the barren desert of Arabia, the families of Lehi and Ishmael came upon a coastal area they “called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey” (1 Ne. 17:5). From this isolated oasis they “beheld the sea,” which they “called Irreantum, which, being interpreted, is many waters” (1 Ne. 17:5). In this verse Nephi equates the definition of “sea” with the word “Irreantum” and the phrase “many waters.” All three appear to have the same meaning. Using this interpretation and definition and correlating it to the Indian Ocean (or sea) to the east of Bountiful, we gain a better understanding of what was meant by the phrase “many waters.” Obviously, the Book of Mormon people would have readily understood that the expansive sea they “beheld” from their camp along the Arabian sea coast, and called “Irreantum” or “many waters,” was salt water and not fresh water. Thus Nephi’s record appears to define “many waters” as a sea, a large body of salt water.

Historically there have been relict bodies of salt water within the continents that remained after the great flood of Noah and became more saline over time. Ether recorded “that after the waters had receded from off the face” of the Jaredite’s promised land “it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord” (Ether 13:2). The waters receded after the great flood for several thousand years, not only in the Jaredite lands of North America but in Asia and other places. These inland seas are endorheic, meaning they are closed bodies of salt water that have one or more inflows but no natural outflow. Most of these bodies of water are still receding. The Jaredites in the promised land, as Ether mentioned many years later, confronted several receding bodies of water in northern Baja California and western North America. Examples include ancient Lake Bonneville (the Great Salt Lake and other smaller bodies of water are remnants) and ancient Lake Cahuilla, a saline body of water (a sea), that evaporated and diminished in size to become the Salton Sea today, a body of salt water, located just north of the Colorado River delta. This sea was much larger 2,000 to 3,000 years ago, within the time of the Book of Mormon record. When this body of water was at its expanded size, historians refer to it as historic Lake Cahuilla. This salt water lake was more than six times larger than the Salton Sea today, with a length of over 100 miles and width of some 35 miles, and extended into northern Baja California. For comparison, this ancient lake was about twice as large as the Great Salt Lake today. Lake Cahuilla began as a fresh water lake but became more saline as it evaporated and diminished in size.

This receding of the waters “from off the face” of the land happened not only in North America but also in Asia and elsewhere. Within Asia the historic receding body of inland water is known as the Paratethys Sea. The size and exact location of this historic inland sea of western Asia cannot be mapped precisely because it has significantly shrunk in size over time. Today, the Aral, Caspian and Black seas are remnants of the Paratethys Sea; the first two seas, completely cut off from the ocean, have become more saline while the Black Sea, connected to the Mediterranean Sea by way of the Bosporus Strait, has developed into an uncommon body containing both fresh and salt water areas. Farther to the east is Lake Balkhash, another large saline body of water that could have been part of the ancient Paratethys Sea. The Caspian, Aral and Balkhash seas are closed bodies of salt water that have one or more inflows but no natural outflows.

Even though these inland seas are called “many waters” in the Nephite and Jaredite records, the phrase “many waters,” unfortunately, is often equated with the large fresh water lakes of North America by proponents of Book of Mormon geography models (Mosiah 8:8; Morm. 6:4; Ether 2:6). We note that in the Book of Mormon, the term lake never appears in geographical descriptions to describe a body of water within Jaredite and Nephite lands. After the waters “receded from off the face of this land,” remnants of these “many waters” remained as saline bodies of water and not fresh water lakes. (See our topic article, From the Sea West to the Sea East, and, The Waters of Mormon, in our main article, An Approach to the Book of Mormon Geography)