Where we are
Alma 31 opens with a grieving heart and closes with a praying one, and the whole chapter lives in the distance between two kinds of prayer. Korihor is dead at the end of chapter 30 — trodden down among a people called the Zoramites — and that detail is the hinge into this chapter, because now Alma turns to the Zoramites themselves. They are not pagans who never knew the truth; they are dissenters from the Nephites (v. 8), people who once had the word of God and have fallen away from it. This is worse than ignorance. They knew, and they left. And Alma, who has just watched the word silence Korihor, decides to try the virtue of the word of God on a whole apostate society — to attempt with preaching what the sword could never do (v. 5). The chapter is the setup to the great mediation trilogy that follows; everything in Alma 32–34 is the answer to the disease diagnosed here. But Alma 31 is not merely a prologue. It is a complete and devastating study of false worship, and a model of what true prayer sounds like when the heart is breaking.
The chapter moves in four parts. First, the commission: Alma, sorrowing over the Zoramite apostasy and afraid they will ally with the Lamanites, gathers a remarkable company — Ammon, Aaron, and Omner of the sons of Mosiah; Amulek and Zeezrom, his converts from Ammonihah; and two of his own sons, Shiblon and Corianton — and goes to preach (vv. 1–7). Second, the discovery: arriving in Antionum they find a worship Alma has never beheld — the Rameumptom, the holy stand, from which every man in turn recites the selfsame prayer, thanking God that they are elected, chosen, holy, and that there shall be no Christ (vv. 8–23). Third, Alma's grief and his prayer: seeing their hearts set on gold and lifted up in pride, Alma cries out to God a long prayer of sorrow, intercession, and pleading — for strength to bear it, for comfort, and for success in bringing them back (vv. 24–35). Fourth, the empowering: Alma claps his hands on his companions, they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they go out, taking no thought for themselves, sustained by the Lord (vv. 36–38).
The verses that carry the chapter mark the contrast it is built on. Verse 5 is Alma's missionary thesis — the word has a more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword. Verses 16–17 are the Zoramite prayer, the counterfeit — thou hast elected us to be thy holy children... and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ. Verse 21 names the apparatus — the Rameumptom, which, being interpreted, is the holy stand. Verse 30 is the turn to true prayer — O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. And verse 38 is the resolution — the Lord gave them strength that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. The chapter exists to show, by direct juxtaposition, what worship is and what it is not: the Zoramites perform a prayer that praises themselves and asks for nothing, and Alma prays a prayer that breaks for others and asks for everything — and only the second one is answered.
The commission and the company (verses 1–7)
Now it came to pass that after the end of Korihor, Alma having received tidings that the Zoramites were perverting the ways of the Lord... his heart again began to sicken because of the iniquity of the people. — Alma 31:1
The chapter opens on Alma's body — his heart... began to sicken. This is not a figure of speech Alma uses lightly; it is the physical register of a pastor's grief, the same nausea of soul that made him cry O that I were an angel in chapter 29. The word again matters: this is a man who has felt this sickness before and is feeling it once more, the recurring heartbreak of one who loves a people and watches them fall. And the cause is specified — the Zoramites are perverting the ways of the Lord. The verb pervert runs through this chapter like a refrain; it is the word Mormon used of Korihor (perverteth the ways of the Lord, 30:60) and it will be the word for the Zoramites (vv. 1, 11). To pervert is not to be ignorant of the way but to twist it — to take something true and bend it into something false. The Zoramites have not lost the forms of religion; they have kept the forms and emptied them. That is what sickens Alma. Counterfeit worship is harder to watch than no worship at all.
And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. — Alma 31:5
This is one of the most quoted verses in the Book of Mormon, and it is the strategic heart of the chapter. Alma has a political problem — he fears the Zoramites will defect to the Lamanites and become a military threat (v. 4) — and the obvious answer would be a preemptive campaign, the sword. Alma rejects it. The word, he has learned, has more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword. The phrase try the virtue of the word uses virtue in its old sense of inherent power or efficacy — the word has a virtue, a force of its own, that armies cannot match. The whole logic of the Zoramite mission is here: you do not fix a perverted heart with a weapon. You fix it with truth, applied directly to the mind. This is the conviction that sends Alma into Antionum unarmed, and it is the conviction the entire mediation trilogy is about to vindicate. The chapter that follows — faith as a seed planted in the heart — is Alma 31:5 demonstrated.
Therefore he took Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner... and also Amulek and Zeezrom, who were at Melek; and he also took two of his sons... Shiblon and Corianton. — Alma 31:6–7
The company Alma assembles is worth pausing over, because it is a reunion of the book's great conversions. He takes three of the sons of Mosiah — Ammon, Aaron, Omner — the men who spent fourteen years among the Lamanites and sang the harvest hymn of Alma 26. He takes Amulek, the prosperous man of Ammonihah who opened his home to a prophet, and Zeezrom, the lawyer who once tried to trap Alma with a bribe and was healed in body and soul (Alma 11–15). And he takes two of his own sons, Shiblon and Corianton — but not, the text carefully notes, his eldest, Helaman, whom he leaves to keep the records. This is a company of the redeemed sent to redeem. Nearly every man in it was once where the Zoramites are now — proud, or hostile, or lost — and was recovered by the word. Alma does not send the untested. He sends men who know from the inside what it is to be perverted and brought back, because those are the men who can believe the Zoramites are reachable. The roster itself is an argument for hope.
The Rameumptom (verses 8–23)
Now, when they had come into the land, behold, to their astonishment they found that the Zoramites had built synagogues, and that they did gather themselves together on one day of the week... and they did worship after a manner which Alma and his brethren had never beheld. — Alma 31:12
The missionaries arrive and are astonished. They expected apostasy; they did not expect this. The Zoramites have synagogues, they gather on one day of the week, they have all the architecture of devotion — and the worship inside it is something Alma has never beheld. This is the chapter's first shock: the Zoramites are not irreligious. They are intensely, formally, weekly religious. They have built an entire apparatus of piety. What has gone wrong is not the absence of worship but its perversion into something unrecognizable. The detail that they worship one day of the week and then, the text will say, never speak of God again until the next gathering (v. 23) is the first clue. Theirs is a compartmentalized religion, sealed off into a single hour and a single building, with no claim on the rest of life. The astonishment of the missionaries is the astonishment of people who know what worship is supposed to be, looking at its hollow double.
For they had a place built up in the center of their synagogue, a place for standing, which was high above the head; and the top thereof would only admit one person. Therefore, whosoever desired to worship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof, and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice. — Alma 31:13–14
Now the apparatus is described, and every detail is a theology. The stand is high above the head — worship as elevation, as being lifted above everyone watching. The top thereof would only admit one person — worship as isolation, a solitary performance with no room for anyone beside you. You ascend alone, you are seen by all, you cry with a loud voice. This is the physical shape of pride made into liturgy. True prayer, as Alma is about to model, is poured out to God; this prayer is performed before men, from a platform engineered to make the worshiper visible and singular and high. The Rameumptom is the opposite of the publican who would not lift his eyes; it is the Pharisee's prayer given an architecture. The Zoramites did not stumble into pride. They built a tower for it and climbed it one at a time.
Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God... Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren... but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ. — Alma 31:15–16
Here is the prayer itself, and it is a masterpiece of perverted devotion. Read it closely: it begins Holy, holy God — borrowing the very language of the seraphim in Isaiah's temple vision (Isaiah 6:3) — and turns it into self-congratulation. Every petition is actually a boast. They thank God that thou hast separated us from our brethren, that thou hast elected us, that we are not... led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren. The whole prayer is about the superiority of the people praying it. And notice what it contains and what it lacks. It contains the word elected four times in two verses — a doctrine of being chosen that has rotted into a doctrine of being better. And it lacks every mark of real prayer: no confession, no thanksgiving for mercy, no petition, no love of neighbor, and above all, no Christ — thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ. This is Korihor's denial of the Messiah, but now installed as the centerpiece of formal worship. The Zoramites have built a religion whose chief article of faith is that the Redeemer will not come and that they do not need him. It is the most efficient perversion possible: a prayer that thanks God for the absence of the Savior.
Now, after the people had all offered up thanks after this manner, they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the holy stand, to offer up thanks after their manner. — Alma 31:23
This quiet verse is one of the most penetrating in the chapter. The Zoramites pray once a week, identically, from the stand — and then go home and never speak of their God again until the next assembly. Their religion is sealed inside one hour. It makes no claim on Monday. God is invoked on the stand and forgotten at the door. This is the deepest perversion of all, deeper even than the bad theology of the prayer: worship that does not touch life. The true worship the rest of the Book of Mormon describes is always — prayer morning, mid-day, and evening (Alma 34:21), the name of Christ carried in the heart continually, faith as a seed that grows daily. The Zoramite faith is the opposite: a scheduled performance that ends when the performer steps down. Many a person who would never recite the Zoramite prayer lives the Zoramite week — God addressed on the appointed day and unmentioned the rest. Mormon records the detail without comment, and it indicts more gently and more widely than anything else in the chapter.
Alma's prayer (verses 24–35)
Now when Alma saw this his heart was grieved; for he saw that they were a wicked and a perverse people; yea, he saw that their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods. — Alma 31:24
Alma sees beneath the prayer to the life it covers, and the life is greed. Their hearts were set upon gold. The Rameumptom religion and the love of money are not two problems but one: a worship that asks nothing of you and flatters you as elect is the perfect religion for hearts set on wealth, because it never disturbs them. The Zoramites can ascend the holy stand on the appointed day, thank God for their superiority, and descend to their gold with a clear conscience. Alma's grief is the grief of a man who sees the whole mechanism — the proud prayer, the sealed-off worship, the covetous heart underneath — and understands how perfectly they fit together. His response is the response the chapter has been building toward. He does not climb the stand to argue. He lifts his voice to heaven and prays.
O, how long, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that thy servants shall dwell here below in the flesh, to behold such gross wickedness among the children of men? — Alma 31:26
Alma's prayer begins where the Zoramite prayer never goes: in sorrow. O, how long, O Lord — this is the cry of the psalms of lament, the how long of Psalm 13 and the prophets, the language of a heart that cannot bear what it sees. Where the Zoramites thanked God for their distance from the wicked, Alma grieves to behold such gross wickedness. The contrast in the two prayers' opening words is the whole chapter in miniature: theirs begins we thank thee that we are not like them; his begins how long must I watch them perish. One prayer looks down on the lost from a high stand; the other breaks for the lost from its knees. And Alma's complaint is not that he is too good for this world but that the wickedness doth pain my soul (v. 30). He wants out of the sight of sin not because he despises sinners but because loving them and watching them is agony.
O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul... O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul. — Alma 31:30
The center of Alma's prayer is a confession of weakness, and it is the exact inverse of the Rameumptom. The Zoramites stood on a platform and proclaimed their strength and election; Alma kneels and confesses I am infirm. He does not ask to be made superior; he asks for strength... that I may bear. This is the true posture before God — not the announcement of one's holiness but the admission of one's need. And what Alma asks for is telling: not that the burden be removed but that he be given strength to bear it. Like the comfort the Lord gave the sons of Mosiah (bear with patience thine afflictions, Alma 26:27), the answer Alma seeks is endurance, not escape. He knows affliction is coming — he says so plainly, afflictions which shall come upon me (v. 31) — and he asks to be able to suffer with patience. The man at the foot of the stand asks for the one thing the men on top of it would never ask: the strength to keep loving a people who will hurt him.
O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people... O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me. — Alma 31:31–32
Alma's prayer now turns outward, and this is its most beautiful movement. Having asked strength for himself, he asks it for every man with him — and he names them, one by one: Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom, and also my two sons. This is intercession, the thing utterly absent from the Zoramite prayer. The men on the Rameumptom prayed only for themselves and only in the first person plural of a closed group; Alma prays through a roster of individuals, carrying each of his companions to God by name. He asks that their souls be comforted in Christ — the Christ the Zoramites denied is the very ground of Alma's every petition. And he asks for success, the same word the Lord gave the sons of Mosiah as a promise (Alma 26:27); Alma takes the promised word and prays it back. The whole prayer is relational where the Zoramite prayer was solitary, Christ-centered where theirs was Christ-denying, and full of others' names where theirs held only their own.
Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee in Christ. — Alma 31:35
This is the verse that overturns the Rameumptom completely. The Zoramites thanked God that they were separated from our brethren and that the rest would be cast... down to hell. Alma prays that their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren. Where the Zoramites drew a line between the elect and the damned and stood on the right side of it, Alma erases the line and claims the Zoramites as brethren. The people who just prayed thanks for being better than everyone are, in Alma's prayer, precious souls he aches to bring home. This is the heart of true worship set against the heart of false worship in a single contrast: the false worshiper despises his brother and thanks God for the distance; the true worshiper loves his brother and begs God to close it. Alma asks for power and wisdom not to defeat the Zoramites but to bring these, our brethren, again unto thee — and unto thee in Christ, always in Christ, the name their whole religion was built to deny.
The empowering (verses 36–38)
Now it came to pass that when Alma had said these words, that he clapped his hands upon all them who were with him. And behold, as he clapped his hands upon them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. — Alma 31:36
The prayer is answered immediately and physically. Alma clapped his hands upon all them who were with him — a laying on of hands, the conferral of the Spirit by ordained authority — and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The contrast with the Rameumptom is total and deliberate. There, men ascended a stand one at a time, isolated, to perform; here, Alma lays hands on his companions together, and what comes is not performance but power. The Zoramites manufactured an experience of holiness by architecture and recitation; Alma's company receives the actual Spirit by prayer and priesthood. This is the answer to verse 5's thesis — the virtue of the word is not merely good arguments but the Holy Ghost carrying the word into hearts. The missionaries are not sent out with eloquence alone. They are sent out filled.
And after that they did separate themselves one from another, taking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on. And the Lord provided for them... yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith. — Alma 31:37–38
The chapter ends with the prayer fulfilled point by point, and the closing image answers the Rameumptom in every particular. The Zoramites returned to their homes and forgot God until the next week; the missionaries separate themselves one from another and go out into the work, taking no thought for themselves — the very words of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25–34), trusting God for food and drink and clothing. The Zoramites' hearts were set upon gold; these men own nothing and worry about nothing, and the Lord provided. Alma asked for strength to bear affliction; the Lord gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. The affliction is not removed — it is swallowed up, absorbed into a joy larger than itself, the joy of Christ whom the Zoramites denied. And Mormon closes by naming the cause: this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith. The whole answer flowed from a true prayer prayed in faith — which is exactly what the Rameumptom was not. The chapter ends having shown both prayers and their two ends: the proud prayer that asked nothing and changed no one, and the broken prayer that asked everything and was answered with the Spirit and the joy of Christ.
How the chapter is built
Alma 31 is built as a diptych — two panels hung side by side, two prayers set against each other, and the whole meaning living in the contrast. The first panel is the Rameumptom: a worship that ascends a high tower, performs in public, recites an identical script, praises the worshipers, denies the Christ, and seals itself inside one hour a week before returning to the love of gold. The second panel is Alma's prayer: a worship that bows in grief, pours out in private, speaks from the heart, confesses weakness, centers wholly on Christ, names others by name, and overflows into a life of taking no thought for self. Mormon has arranged the chapter so that nearly every feature of the Zoramite prayer has its exact answer in Alma's. They thank God they are separated from their brethren; Alma calls the Zoramites his brethren. They proclaim their strength; Alma confesses his infirmity. They pray only for themselves; Alma intercedes for each companion. They deny Christ; every petition of Alma's is in Christ. The chapter does not merely describe true and false worship. It lays them next to each other and lets the comparison do the teaching.
The chapter is also engineered as the doorway into the great mediation trilogy, and it sets up that trilogy with precision. Everything the Zoramites get wrong, Alma 32–34 will set right. They worship from a stand of pride; Alma 32 will teach worship from a place of humility, faith as a seed planted in a lowly and willing heart. They have sealed God into one day; Alma 34 will command prayer morning, mid-day, and evening and in your fields... over all your flocks — worship poured through the whole of life. They deny that there shall be a Christ; the entire burden of Amulek's sermon in Alma 34 is the great and last sacrifice, the infinite and eternal atonement of the very Christ they reject. Alma 31 is the disease named in full so that the next three chapters can administer the cure in full. The Rameumptom is the question; the mediation trilogy is the answer. And the chapter ends already pointing forward — the company filled with the Spirit and separating to go out — so that the reader turns the page knowing exactly what these Spirit-filled men are walking toward, and exactly what is wrong with the people they are walking toward it for.
And there is one more structural note worth catching: the chapter is bracketed by the body of Korihor. It opens after the end of Korihor, the man trodden to death among these very Zoramites, and it is no accident that the anti-Christ who denied God privately and the Zoramites who deny Christ liturgically are joined at the seam of these chapters. Korihor was unbelief argued; the Zoramites are unbelief institutionalized — the same denial of Christ that Korihor preached in the streets, now built into a synagogue, scripted into a prayer, and climbed like a tower. Korihor demanded a sign and was struck dumb; the Zoramites want no sign and feel no lack, which is the more advanced and more hopeless condition. Against both, the chapter sets the one thing that finally answers unbelief: not a sign, not an argument, but a man on his knees, grieving for his brethren, praying in faith, and rising filled with the Spirit. The cure for worship turned inside out is worship turned right side up — and the chapter ends with it beginning.