Exodus 24:10

24:10 and they saw ¹  the God of Israel. Under his feet ²  there was something like a pavement ³  made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself. ⁴ 

Job 28:6

28:6 a place whose stones are sapphires ⁵ 

and which contains dust of gold; ⁶ 

Job 28:16

28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase ⁷  with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx ⁸  or sapphires.

The Song of Songs 5:14

5:14 His arms are like rods of gold set with chrysolite.

His abdomen ⁹  is like polished ivory inlaid with sapphires.

Ezekiel 1:26

1:26 Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man.

Ezekiel 10:1

God’s Glory Leaves the Temple

10:1 As I watched, I saw ¹⁰  on the platform ¹¹  above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them.

Revelation 4:3

4:3 And the one seated on it was like jasper ¹²  and carnelian ¹³  in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald ¹⁴  encircled the throne.

¹ sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 254) wishes to safeguard the traditional idea that God could not be seen by reading “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” so as not to say they saw God. But according to U. Cassuto there is not a great deal of difference between “and they saw the God” and “the Lord God appeared” (Exodus, 314). He thinks that the word “God” is used instead of “Yahweh” to say that a divine phenomenon was seen. It is in the LXX that they add “the place where he stood.” In v. 11b the LXX has “and they appeared in the place of God.” See James Barr, “Theophany and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament,” VTSup 7 (1959): 31-33. There is no detailed description here of what they saw (cf. Isa 6; Ezek 1). What is described amounts to what a person could see when prostrate.

² sn S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (Exodus, 254).

³ tn Or “tiles.”

⁴ tn Heb “and like the body of heaven for clearness.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven” or “sky” depending on the context; here, where sapphire is mentioned (a blue stone) “sky” seems more appropriate, since the transparent blueness of the sapphire would appear like the blueness of the cloudless sky.

⁵ tn It is probably best to take “place” in construct to the rest of the colon, with an understood relative clause: “a place, the rocks of which are sapphires.”

⁶ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 181) suggests that if it is lapis lazuli, then the dust of gold would refer to the particles of iron pyrite found in lapis lazuli which glitter like gold.

⁷ tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.

⁸ tn The exact identification of these stones is uncertain. Many recent English translations, however, have “onyx” and “sapphires.”

⁹ tn The term מֵעֶה (me’eh) is used in reference to several things in the Old Testament: (1) the womb of a woman (Gen 25:23; Isa 49:1; Ps 71:6; Ruth 1:11), (2) a man’s loins (Gen 15:4; 2 Sam 7:12; Isa 48:19; 2 Chr 32:21), (3) the “inward parts” of a person, such as the stomach or intestines which are used to digest food (Num 5:22; Job 20:14; Ezek 3:3; Jonah 2:1-2), and (4) the external stomach or abdominal muscles: “abdomen” (Song 5:14).

¹⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

¹¹ tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.

¹² tn Grk “jasper stone.”

¹³ sn Carnelian was a semiprecious gemstone, usually red in color (L&N 2.36).

¹⁴ tn Or “a rainbow emerald-like in appearance.”