Beryl

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The first in the fourth row of precious stones in the high priest's breast-plate (Exodus 28:20; Exodus 39:13), Hebrew tarshish , the tartessus stone, found in Spain. Sea green, pale blue, yellow, and almost white, are its various colors. The color of the cherubic wheels (Ezekiel 1:16; Ezekiel 10:9). In Ezekiel 28:13 it is one of the Tyrian king's treasures, margin: chrysolite. Set in rings of gold (Song of Solomon 5:14); not as Smith's Bible Dictionary, "his wrists are circlets of gold full set with topazes,' but the hands bent in are compared to beautiful rings in which beryl is set, as the nails are in the fingers The body of the man seen in vision (Daniel 10:6) resembled it. In Revelation 21:19-20, the city's eighth foundation, the chrysolite being the seventh. The aquamarine, according to Schleusner.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Beryl (βήρυλλος [Revelation 21:20], a word of unknown etymology) is a mineral which differs little from the emerald except in colour. It never exhibits the deep rich green of that gem, being in general pale green, and sometimes yellowish, bluish, brownish, or colourless. Its finer varieties, which are transparent, are called aquamarine. It usually takes the form of long six-sided prisms, vertically striated. It was much prized as a gem-stone by the ancients, and very fine specimens of Greek and Roman engraving in beryl are extant. Its great abundance in modern times has depreciated its value. In Revised Version margin of the OT, ‘beryl’ stands for shôham , which Flinders Petrie ( Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iv. 620b) identifies with green felspar.

James Strahan.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

There is no certainty as to what stone the word tarshish denotes. The LXX translate it by different words. In Ezekiel 1:16; Ezekiel 10:9 the 'wheels' are compared to its colour, without stating what that was. Some suppose it was the golden topaz; others that it was the chrysolite. It was the first in the fourth row of the high priest's breastplate, and is mentioned in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. Exodus 28:20; Exodus 39:13; Song of Solomon 5:14; Ezekiel 28:13; Daniel 10:6 . In Revelation 21:20 the word is βήρυλλος, beryl.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Βήρυλλος (Strong'S #969 — Noun — berullos — bay'-rool-los )

"beryl," is a precious stone of a sea-green color, Revelation 21:20 (cp. Exodus 28:20 ).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Beryl. Beryl, (Hebrew, tarshish), occurs in Exodus 28:20. It is generally supposed that the tarshish derives its name from the place so called, in Spain. Beryl is a mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. By tarshish, the modern yellow topaz is probably intended, while in Revelation 21:20 a different stone is perhaps referred to, probably the mineral now called beryl, which is identical with the emerald except in color, being a light green or bluish-green.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

תרשיש , a pellucid gem of a bluish green colour, whence it is called by the lapidaries, aqua marina. Its Hebrew name is a word also for the same reason given to the sea, Psalms 48:7 . It is found in the East Indies, Peru, Siberia, and Tartary. It has a brilliant appearance, and is generally transparent. It was the tenth stone belonging to the high priest's pectoral, Exodus 28:10; Exodus 28:20; Revelation 21:20 .

King James Dictionary

BER'YL,n. L.beryllus Eng.brilliant.

A mineral, considered by Cleaveland as a subspecies of Emerald. Its prevailing color is green of various shades,but always pale. Its crystals are usually longer and larger than those of the precious emerald, and its structure more distinctly foliated. It is harder than the apatite,with which it has been confounded harder and less heavy than the pycnite. The best beryls are found in Brazil, in Siberia and Ceylon, and in Dauria, on the frontiers of China. They are found in many parts of the United States.

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) A mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. It occurs in hexagonal prisms, commonly of a green or bluish green color, but also yellow, pink, and white. It is a silicate of aluminium and glucinum (beryllium). The aquamarine is a transparent, sea-green variety used as a gem. The emerald is another variety highly prized in jewelry, and distinguished by its deep color, which is probably due to the presence of a little oxide of chromium.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Exodus 28:20Ezekiel 28:13Daniel 10:6Revelation 21:20Ezekiel 1:16Song of Solomon 5:14

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Tarshish Exodus 28:20Song of Solomon 5:14Daniel 10:6Revelation 21:20Ezekiel 28:13

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The name of a precious stone of a sea-green color, found principally in India, Daniel 10:6 Revelation 21:20 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BERYL . See Jewels and Precious Stones.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is the uniform rendering in the Auth. Vers. only of the Heb. תִּרְשִׁישׁ, tarshish' (so called, according to Gesenius, as being brought from Tarshish), and the Gr. βήρυλλος, a precious stone, the first in the fourth row on the breastplate of the high-priest (Exodus 28:20; Exodus 39:13). The color of the wheels in Ezekiel's vision was as the color of a beryl-stone (Ezekiel 1:16; Ezekiel 10:9); it is mentioned among the treasures of the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:13, where the marginal reading is chrysolite; in Song of Solomon 5:14, as being set in rings of gold; and in Daniel 10:6, the body of the man whom Daniel saw in vision is said to be like the beryl. In Revelation 21:19, the beryl is the 8th foundation of the city, the chrysolite being the 7th. In Tobit 13:17, is a prophetic prayer that the streets of Jerusalem may be paved with beryl. In Exodus 28:20, the Sept. renders tarshish by "chrysolite," χρυσόλιθος, while they render the 11th stone, שֹׁה — ם, shoham, by "beryl," βηρύλλιον. In Ezekiel f, 16, they have- θαρσείς; in 10:9, λίθος ἄνθρακος; and 28:13, ἄνθραξ, in Song of Solomon 5:14, and in Daniel 10:6, θαρσίς . 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 Revelation 21:20, is adverse to this view. Schleusner (1, 446) says the βήρυλλος 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).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ber´yl. This is supposed by some to be the precious stone intended by the word shoham, which occurs in Genesis 2:12; Exodus 28:9; Exodus 35:9-27; Job 28:16; Ezekiel 28:13. Whether the beryl be the shohamor not, it is a Scriptural stone by virtue of the mention of it in Revelation 21:20. There is no doubt that the stone which we call beryl is the substance to which the ancients gave the same name. It is of a pale sea-green color, inclining sometimes to water blue, and sometimes to yellow. In its crystallized form it exhibits sexagonal columns striped longitudinally. The shoham furnished the shoulder-pieces in the breastplate of the high priest, on each of which six names were engraven, and for this purpose the stalky beryl, consisting of long, stout, hexagonal pieces, was peculiarly suited. Beryls are found, but not often, in collections of ancient gems. In Genesis 2:12, the shoham is named as the product of Havilah; in Job 28:16, it is mentioned as a stone of great value, being classed with the sapphire and the gold of Ophir; in Ezekiel 28:13, it appears as a valuable article of commerce.

Luther, relying upon the authority of some ancient versions, makes the shoham to have been the onyx. This indeed is the stone usually given for the shohamin Hebrew lexicons, and is the one which the Authorized Version has also adopted.