“I Can Assuredly Tell Thee, O King, of a Man That Can Translate the Records”

George Reynolds, Janne M. Sjodahl

Ammon answered the king and said that there is a man in Zarahemla who has a gift from God, who can translate all records of ancient peoples. He has "wherewith that he can look" and by the power of God, can translate writings belonging to ages now long past dead. The wherewith of which Ammon spoke, he said "are called interpreters," and that no man could look in them and receive the blessings they imparted unless he was commanded by the Lord so to do. Whosoever the Lord commanded "to look in them," Ammon said, "is called seer."

The Presiding High Priest in Zarahemla, who also is the king of that land, he continued, is he who is commanded by the Lord to "do these things, and who has this high gift from God."

King Limhi then observed that a "seer is greater than a prophet," to which Ammon explained to the king the many different gifts had by each. A seer, he said, is a revelator and a prophet, too, and no gift is greater than, by the power of God, to reveal the history of any nation in the undecipherable writings of their prophets and wise men.

Not only, Ammon went on to explain, does a seer know the history of peoples now long forgotten, but also of things to come. By them all things are made known; hidden things are brought to light, and secret things are made manifest. Things, "that otherwise could not be known" are made known by a seer. He is both prophet and seer.

Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 2

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