Among the special spiritual gifts granted the seer is the ability to restore, interpret, and understand the past. In so doing the seer may by the use of various interpreters translate ancient records that have been written in languages that now are otherwise indecipherable. This is what Mosiah did in translating the records of the Jaredites and what Joseph Smith did in translating the Book of Mormon.
“A Seer”
In the earliest of Old Testament times a prophet was called a seer, from the Hebrew ro’eh, meaning “one who sees” (see 1 Samuel 9:9). Contextually this carried the idea of seeing that which was hidden to others. The Hebrew hozen, meaning “one who sees a vision,” has also been translated as seer. In addition, hozen carries the meaning “to tell, to declare, or make known.”