The Zoramites were one of the Nephite lineage divisions, descended from Zoram, the servant of Laban who joined Lehi’s family in their departure from Jerusalem around 600 B.C. and married the eldest daughter of Ishmael (1 Nephi 16:7). Jacob listed the Zoramites among the groups making up the people who were not Lamanites—Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites (Jacob 1:13). Jacob said he would no longer distinguish the people by these names, calling those friendly to Nephi simply Nephites (Jacob 1:14).
A branch of the Zoramites became one of the most prominent apostate groups in the Book of Mormon. Having received the word of God as Nephite dissenters, they fell into great errors: they rejected the law of Moses, denied Christ, and built the Rameumptom—a high stand in the center of their synagogue that admitted only one person at a time, from which worshippers recited a prideful prayer claiming they were God’s elect while all others were condemned to hell. They also cast the poor out of their synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel (Alma 31:8-18; Alma 32:2-5). Alma, grieved by this apostasy, led a mission to the land of Antionum, taking with him Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Amulek, Zeezrom, and his sons Shiblon and Corianton (Alma 31:1, 6-7). Success came among the poor who had been expelled from the synagogues, and it was to this multitude that Alma delivered his extended discourse on faith as a planted seed (Alma 32:27-43).
The Zoramites who rejected Alma’s preaching began to mix with the Lamanites and stir them up to anger, and ultimately became Lamanites themselves, contributing to the wars described in Alma 43-44 (Alma 35:10-11; Alma 43:4-6).
In the 231st year after the coming of Christ a great division arose, and the Zoramites were named among the groups identified as true believers in Christ (4 Nephi 1:36-37).
During the final Nephite wars, the Zoramites were counted among the Nephites, who consisted of the Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites, against the Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites (Mormon 1:8).
In a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord stated that the knowledge of a Savior would come to the Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites through the testimony of their fathers, and that the plates were preserved for this purpose (D&C 3:16-20).