Why did Joseph Smith use a seer stone in a hat to translate?
The Bible answers
Urim and Thummim in the priest’s breastplate.
King James Version
And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the Lord.
NRSVUE
In the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord.
Also restored
Doctrine and Covenants 17:1
You shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount.
Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.
Community Rule (1QS) and lots at Qumran
The Qumran community used lots and priestly inquiry to discern God’s will — a Second Temple continuation of Urim-and-Thummim type oracles.
Sacred stones and oracular instruments are biblical and Jewish, not 'folk magic' invented on the American frontier.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Gospel Topics Essays
Eyewitnesses describe both the interpreters that came with the plates and a seer stone placed in a hat to exclude light. That is strange to modern ears and ordinary in a world that still believed God could speak through appointed instruments. Royal Skousen’s work on the original manuscript shows a tight, dictated text — not a composed novel.
Joseph Smith and his scribes wrote as 'thus saith the Lord' as the words were given, and the resulting book has the fingerprints of an orally dictated ancient record.
Faithful voices only. Most of these are independent — not official Church productions unless marked as such.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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