Mormon enters the worship statement of the Zoramites. This is the same prayer offered by all Zoramites on the Rameumptom (verse 20) and therefore it is quite logical that Alma would have been able to record it. Mormon is inserting this full text from Alma’s record.
The first statement of the Zoramite prayer is their definition of God. They continue to believe in God, but declare that “thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.” This statement should be taken as a direct precursor to the statement we find in the next verse that “there shall be no Christ.” They begin with the declaration of God as an eternal spirit because they deny that Christ should come and be in a body. When we remember that the Nephite teaching was that Jehovah (the pre-mortal name for Christ) would come to earth and take a body, we can more fully understand that this statement of the Zoramites not only defines their belief, but contrasts their beliefs to the Nephites from whom they have apostatized.
Cultural: When the Zoramites stand on the Rameumpton the text says that they “stretch forth … hands towards heaven.” In addition to the formalization of the prayer itself, it is accompanied by a formal stance and action. Nibley notes:
“This is the way they would go. They would go on the top and stretch forth their hands to heaven. That’s the hallel gesture, which you find anciently everywhere. It gave us the Hebrew letter h. It’s the little hallelujah mannequin here [Brother Nibley draws it on the board]. You see it on jars, vases, rocks, glyphs, etc. They would do that. It’s the usual gesture, the hallel or hallelujah. Hallel means “to greet the new moon” and various things like that.” (Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon--Semester 1: Transcripts of Lectures Presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham Young University, 1988--1990 [Provo: FARMS p. 432.)