In 1 Nephi 5:4, Lehi states: "I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God." John Tvedtnes notes that Lehi is three times referred to as "a visionary man" (1 Nephi 2:11; 5:2, 4). The term does not appear in the King James Version of the Bible, but is nonetheless authentic. It is the Hebrew word hozeh, the active participle of the root from which derive the words hazon and hizzayon, "vision." In each case, the King James Version translates the term as "seer," which is the same as the KJV rendering for ro'eh (from the verb to see).
Both Hebrew roots have the verbal meaning of "to see," but it is likely that hozeh is behind the Book of Mormon term visionary man, while ro'eh is probably the word behind seer in 2 Nephi 3:6-7, 11, 14 and Mosiah 8:13-17. The latter passage, along with Mosiah 28:13-16 and Joseph Smith History 1:35, indicates that the term seer was used by the Nephites to designate one who had power to use the interpreters, which have come to be known to us as the Urim and Thummim. [John A. Tvedtnes, "A Visionary Man," in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., 1999, pp. 29-30] [See the commentary on Mosiah 28:20]