When Joseph Smith found the golden plates, he discovered that accompanying them were a set of Nephite interpreters and a breastplate. These items, along with Joseph Smith’s seer stone, have a number of meaningful parallels with the biblical Urim and Thummim. This helps explain why the early Latter-day Saints interchangeably referred to his translation instruments as the Urim and Thummim. It also shows how God often uses similar means of revelation to communicate to his prophets in different times and circumstances.