Zoram³ was a Nephite dissenter who led a group that separated from the Nephites and called themselves Zoramites, settling around 74 B.C. in the land of Antionum, east of Zarahemla near the seashore and south of Jershon (Alma 31:3). He led the people to bow down to idols and was reported to be perverting the ways of the Lord (Alma 31:1).
Alma, troubled by the Zoramites’ separation and idolatry and by Nephite fears that they would ally with the Lamanites, set out to preach to them (Alma 31:2-5). He took Ammon, Aaron, and Omner, along with Amulek and Zeezrom and two of his sons, leaving Himni in the church at Zarahemla (Alma 31:5-6). The missionaries’ preaching on faith and the Atonement (Alma 32-34) won over part of the people, who were then cast out of Antionum and came to the people of Ammon in Jershon (Alma 35:6).
Zoram, called the chief ruler of the Zoramites, sent to the people of Ammon demanding that they cast out the converts and breathed out threats against them, but the Ammonites refused and gave the poor of the Zoramites lands in Jershon (Alma 35:8-9). The Zoramites then mixed with the Lamanites and stirred them up to war against the people of Ammon and the Nephites (Alma 35:10-11).