A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Zoram

by George Reynolds

ZORAM. The servant of Laban (B. C. 600), afterwards the friend of Nephi. When Nephi had slain Laban near his house at Jerusalem, he went into the dead man's residence, and assuming the voice of Laban commanded Zoram, who had the keys of the treasury, to bring the records he needed. It being night, Zoram was deceived, and quickly obeyed. Then Nephi commanded Zoram to follow him with the records to his brethren. This Zoram did, supposing that the brethren to whom Nephi alluded, were the elders of the Jews. Nephi and Zoram took their course to the place where Nephi's brothers had secreted themselves outside the walls of Jerusalem. When the latter saw them coming they were greatly afraid, for they did not recognize their brother, dressed in the armor of Laban. They thought that he had been killed and that these men were coming to slay them also; so they fled before them. Nephi, perceiving the difficulty, called to them in his own voice. While this arrested their flight, on the other hand it alarmed Zoram. He would have returned in terror to Jerusalem and, no doubt, have spread the alarm, if Nephi had not caught hold of him, given him assurances of good will and made a covenant with him that if he would be faithful to Nephi and his brethren he should be a free man like unto them; for it appears that Zoram was a bond-servant, most probably an Israelite who had fallen into debt, and, as provided by the law of Moses, was serving Laban till that debt was paid by his services. This covenant Zoram faithfully kept. He went down with the sons of Lehi into the wilderness, and he and his posterity were numbered with the people of Nephi ever afterward.

In the valley of Lemuel, Zoram married the eldest daughter of Ishmael. When Lehi, previous to his death, blessed his posterity he also extended his blessings to Zoram. Nothing is said of Zoram's children, though some conspicuous men of later Nephite history—Amalickiah, Ammoron, Tubaloth, for instance—were his descendants; neither have we any record of his death.