The Septuagint gives anthrax as the 1st stone, 2nd row, chrusolithos as the 1st stone, 4th row, berullion as the 2nd stone, 4th row, of the breastplate; English Versions of the Bible translates "beryl"; the King James Version margin translates "chrysolite" (in Ezekiel 28:13 only); the Revised Version margin translates "chalcedony" (Exodus 28:20; 39:13), "topaz" (Song of Solomon 5:14) and "stone of Tarshish" (Ezekiel 10:9). The word is probably derived from phyr, "to throw fire"; the stone was therefore brilliant and very likely red. Beryl, Heb. and on each occasion, except Job, xxviii, 16, the gem is translated in the Vulgate by lapis onychinus (lapis sardonychus in Job, xxviii, 16). Interpretation of Greek Names Used by Sepuagint: For the interpretation of the Greek names of stones mentioned in the Septuagint (and thus of the Hebrew names in the original text), the work of Theophrastus, a contemporary of the Septuagint translators, is very useful. Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) translates chrysolithus; the King James Version translates "chrysolyte"; the Revised Version (British and American) translates "chrysolite." thereby indicating beryl. sardion; Vulg. It must be remembered, however, that a Hebrew writer, in describing the arrangement of a row of stones, began with that on his right and mentioned them in the order right to left, while a western writer begins with the stone on his left and mentions them in the reverse order. Hence, for the middle stone of the 2nd row, the Hebrew texts were concordant in giving the name cappir, but they fundamentally differed from that of Josephus whose two descriptions agree in giving the name iaspis; it is not a difference of mere nomenclature or translation, but of the kind of stone set in a definite part of the breastplate. The amethyst is a brilliant transparent stone of a purple colour and varying in shade from violet purple to rose. It is possible that at Patmos or Ephesus, at one of which John was living when he wrote the Book of Revelation, the word chalkedon was used to specify the particular kind of smaragdus or iaspis that had been found near the town of that name. Formerly, an agate that was banded with well-defined colours was the onyx. In another place he refers to a stone from Chalcedon or Calchedon (another reading) as being an iaspis of turbid hue. The view that the writing chalkedon is an error and that it should be charkedon (the carbuncle) is not without some reason. Edelstine. The lapidaries cut all beryls of a hexagonal form because the color which is deadened by a dull uniformity of surface is heightened by the reflections resulting from the angles. ", Ezekiel 1:4, the Revised Version margin translation of Hebrew chashmal, "amber.". The carnelian is a siliceous stone and a species of chalcedony. In the Book of Exodus, the Bible and Torah both describe how God himself instructed people to make a breastplate with 12 different gemstones for a high priest to use in prayer. Spiritual rocks and spiritual stones are the same way to the soul. Chalcedony is a siliceous stone. Some commentators, rejecting both the Septuagint translations, interpret the material to be pearl, others to be the gum of an Arabian tree. Septuagint probably translates ligurion, but there is uncertainty as to their Hebrew text; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) probably translates ligurius; the King James Version translates "ligure"; the Revised Version (British and American) translates "jacinth"; the Revised Version margin translates "amber.". Achates (agate) is omitted, but was no longer precious. in Ezekiel 1:4,27; 8:2: The Septuagint translates elektron; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) and the Revised Version margin translate electrum; the King James Version, the English Revised Version and the American Revised Version margin translate "amber"; the American Standard Revised Version translates "glowing metal." This is perhaps the agate of Ex., xxviii, 20, and xxxix, 13, since the chrysoprasus was not very well known among the ancients. Frequently referred to ( 1 Kings 10:2; 2 Chr 3:6; 9:10; Revelation 18:16; 21:19). The Vulgate equates onyx with the Hebrew ??? However, since the Septuagint repeatedly translates the Hebrew word by chrysolithos, except where it merely transliterates it, and in Ezech., x, 9, since, moreover, the Vulgate follows this translation with very few exceptions, and Aquila, Josephus, and St. Epiphanius agree in their rendering, it can be assumed that the chrysolite of the ancients equates to our topaz. There are about twenty different names of such stones in the Bible. When rubbed or heated it becomes highly electric. Those stones are a warning!!! The crystallum of Pliny was the rock-crystal (clear quartz) of the present day. sardius; the first stone of the breastplate (Ex., xxviii, 17; xxxix, 10) representing Ruben; also the first among the stones of the King of Tyre (Ezech., xxviii, 13); the sixth foundation stone of the celestial city (Apoc., xxi, 19). This topaz is generally believed to have been chrysolite rather than the more generally known topaz. As a gem, it is considered more beautiful, and therefore more expensive - aqua marine is a beautiful sea-green variety. It has only been since the mid-1800’s that we have begun to identify stones according to their mineral content. Yet in the Septuagint the Hebrew word is translated soom (1 Chronicles 29:2, indicating that the translator, not knowing the Greek word for shoham, gave merely its Greek transliteration) as well as smaragdos (Exodus 28:9; 35:27; 39:6 or Septuagint Exodus 36:13), prasinos (Genesis 2:12), sardion (Exodus 25:7; 35:9 or Septuagint Exodus 35:8), onux (Job 28:16). The ligurion of the Septuagint is probably identical with the lugkurion of Theophrastus; this was a yellow to yellowishred stone used by seal engravers, and was transparent and difficult to polish. Symbols and their greater meaning are something that requires careful consideration when studying the Bible. The Septuagint rendering amethustos is generally accepted as correct, but the late Professor N. S. Maskelyne, F.R.S., formerly (1857-80) Keeper of Minerals in the British Museum, gave reasons for regarding the 'achlamah of breastplate times as possibly an onyx in which white bands alternated with waxy-yellow to reddish-yellow bands. iaspis and Lat. In the Old Testament, the 12 different precious stones were used to symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel. nat., XXXVII, xxxi), who derive the name from that of the city of Sardes where, they claim, it was first found. The gem is an anhydrate quartz composed of silica, alumina, and iron and there are jaspers of nearly every colour. Then he told the Israelis, "When your descendants ask their parents in years to come, 'What is the meaning of these stones?' Emerald, Heb. Agate was supposed to void the toxicity of all poisons and counteract the infection of contagious diseases; if held in the hand or in the mouth, it was believed to alleviate fever. in Revelation 21:20: the 7th foundation of the New Jerusalem. Among the localities cited for crystallum by Pliny are "the crags of the Alps, so difficult of access that it is usually found necessary to be suspended by ropes in order to extract it.". For example, 2,000 years ago the Greek term anthrax was used to signify various hard, transparent, red stones that are now known to differ much from one another in chemical composition, and are therefore assigned to different species and given different names; among them are oriental ruby (red corundum), balas ruby (red spinel), almandine and pyrope (red garnets); a stone designated anthrax by the ancient Greeks might thus belong to any one of a number of various kinds to the assemblage of which no name is now given, and the word anthrax has no simple equivalent in a modern language. Septuagint probably translates iaspis, though iaspis is placed by the Septuagint as the 3rd stone, 2nd row; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) probably translates jaspis; English Versions of the Bible translate it as "jasper." This supposition is strengthened by the fact that the Arabic word kadzkadzat, evidently derived from the same stem as chodchod, designates a bright red. It is not mentioned in Apocrypha or the New Testament. nat., XXXVII, xxv), the charchedonius of Petronius, and the ardjouani of the Arabs. 10. Chrysoprase, Greek chrysoprasos, the tenth foundation stone of the celestial Jerusalem (Apoc., xxi, 20). Therefore, the ultimate analysis is limited to the two words yshlm and shlm. Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) translates sapphirus; English Versions of the Bible translates "sapphire"; the Revised Version margin translates "lapis lazuli" (but only in Revelation 21:19). In the interpretation of the Hebrew names of the stones of the breastplate there is much greater difficulty, for no Hebrew literature other than the Old Testament has been preserved, and little help is afforded by the contexts of other verses in which some of the Hebrew names of precious stones occur. The Hebrew root brq (to glitter"), from which it is probably derived, is agreed on by scholastic consensus. stones. Shamir, in Jeremiah 17:1; Ezekiel 3:9; Zechariah 7:12; Septuagint omits Jeremiah 17:1, and in the other two verses either periphrases the word or had a different text; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) translates (unguis) adamantinus in Jeremiah 17:1, and adamas in the other two verses; English Versions of the Bible translates "diamond" (Jeremiah 17:1) and "adamant" (Ezekiel 3:9; Zechariah 7:12). Pliny (Hist. jaspis; the twelfth stone of the breastplate (Ex., xxviii, 18; xxxix, 11), representing Benjamin. in Isaiah 54:12: Septuagint translates krustallos; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) periphrases as lapides sculpti ("engraved stones"); English Versions of the Bible translates "carbuncles." contact . ( Genesis 49:24 ) The members of the Church are called "living stones," as contributing to rear that living temple in which Christ, himself "a living stone," is the chief or head of the corner. 19); and in the Greek text of Ecclus., xxxii, 8, but there is no indication of it in the Manuscript B. of the Hebrew text, found in the Genizah of Cairo in 1896. It is also of an azure color, though sometimes, but rarely, it is purple; the best kind being that which comes from Media. The latter was thought by other naturalists to belong to an independent genus of stone. Debate still continues as to which stone is precisely referred to in the Bible. Pliny says that in his day the reddest and most branched was most valued. And if the signification of the Hebrew names of the stones had not been carefully passed down from one generation to another while the breastplate was no longer in existence (for instance, during the Babylonian captivity), or if stones like those of the original breastplate were not available when a new breastplate was being made, there would inevitably be differences in the breastplate at different times. Josephus claimed he had seen the actual stones. The ancient symbolism of stones and their wisdom is being explained and brought closer to you through high-quality photographs from the around the world. It is the carbunculus of Pliny's time, and probably included the oriental ruby (corundum, alumina), the balas ruby (spinel, aluminate of magnesium), the almandine (a kind of garnet, alumino-silicate of iron) and pyrope (another kind of garnet, alumino-silicate of magnesium) of the present day. The foundations of the wall of … Verse Concepts. Septuagint translates meteora (Job 28:18) and ramoth (Ezekiel 27:16); Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) periphrases the passages; English Versions of the Bible translates "coral"; the King James Version margin translates "ramoth" (only in Job 28:18). Ezech. in Job 28:18: The Septuagint transliterates gabis; the King James Version translates "pearls"; the Revised Version (British and American) translates "crystal." Josephus is not reliable in this instance as he most likely quoted from memory; the position of the words being at variance in his two lists (Bell. and measures 51 inches in length by 32 inches by 22. There is, however, a choice between the oriental ruby and the spinel ruby; but the words may have been used interchangeably for both. It is a completely opaque stone of a conchoidal cleavage. Equivalence of Hebrew and Greek Names: Taking these matters into consideration, the following have considerable claims to be regarded as equivalents: The remaining three stones, tarshish, shoham and yahalom, are thus equivalent to chrusolithos, onuchion and berullion, but it is uncertain which Greek name corresponds to any of those Hebrew names. The Hebraic derivation derives shbw from shbb "to flame"; it may also be related to Saba (shba). in Exodus 24:10; 28:18; 39:11; Job 28:6,16; Song of Solomon 5:14; Isaiah 54:11; Lamentations 4:7; Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1; 28:13, English Versions of the Bible translation of Hebrew sappir; in Tobit 13:16; Revelation 21:19, English Versions of the Bible translation of Greek sappheiros; in Revelation 21:20, the Revised Version margin translation of Greek huakinthos. There is little to indicate the meaning of the same stone is also mentioned in Apocrypha the! Undulating and sometimes lamellated in Exodus 28:17 ; 39:10 ; Ezekiel 28:13: 3rd. 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