is the uniform rendering in the Auth. Vers. only of the Heb.
úִּøְùִׁéùׁ
, tarshish' (so called, according to Gesenius, as being brought from Tarshish), and the Gr.
âήñõëëïò
, a precious stone, the first in the fourth row on the breastplate of the high-priest (Exo_28:20; Exo_39:13). The color of the wheels in Ezekiel's vision was as the color of a beryl-stone (Eze_1:16; Eze_10:9); it is mentioned among the treasures of the King of Tyre in Eze_28:13, where the marginal reading is chrysolite; in Son_5:14, as being set in rings of gold; and in Dan_10:6, the body of the man whom Daniel saw in vision is said to be like the beryl. In Rev_21:19, the beryl is the 8th foundation of the city, the chrysolite being the 7th. In Tob_13:17, is a prophetic prayer that the streets of Jerusalem may be paved with beryl. In Exo_28:20, the Sept. renders tarshish by “chrysolite,”
÷ñõóüëéèïò
, while they render the 11th stone,
ùֹׁä
—
í
, shoham, by “beryl,”
âçñýëëéïí
. In Ezekiel f, 16, they have-
èáñóåßò
; in 10:9,
ëßèïò ἄíèñáêïò
; and 28:13,
ἄíèñáî
, in Son_5:14, and in Dan_10:6,
èáñóßò
. his variety of rendering shows the uncertainty under which the old interpreters labored as to the stone actually meant. SEE GEM. Josephus takes it to have been the chrysolite, a golden-colored gem, the topaz of more recent authors, found in Spain (Pliny 37:109), whence its name tarshish (see Braun, De Vest. Sac. Heb. lib. 2, c. 18, § 193). Luther suggests turquoise, while others have thought that amber was meant. Kalisch, in the two passages of Exodus, translates tarshish by chrysolite, which he describes as usually green, but with different degrees of shade, generally transparent, but often only translucent-harder than glass, but not so hard as quartz. The passage in Rev_21:20, is adverse to this view. Schleusner (1, 446) says the
âήñõëëïò
is aqua-marine. “The beryl is a gem of the genus emerald, but less valuable than the emerald. It differs from the precious emerald in not possessing any of the oxide of chrome. The colors of the beryl are grayish-green, blue, yellow, and sometimes nearly white” (Humble, Dict. Geol. p. 30). — Penny Cyclopaedia, s.v.; Smith's Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Beryllus. SEE ONYX.