Ezekiel 10:9
four <0702> [behold.]
gleamed <05869> [as the.]
jasper <08658> [a beryl.]
{Tarshish} is generally rendered by the LXX. and the Vulgate the chrysolite, so called by the ancients (from [chrusos (chrysos) <\\See definition 5557\\>,] gold, and [lithos <\\See definition 3037\\>,] a stone,) because of its fine gold yellow colour. It is now called by the moderns the topaz; is a very beautiful and valuable gem in its pure and perfect state, though very rarely found so; and the finer pieces of it are in hardness second only to the diamond. The Vulgate, however, in ch. 1:16, renders, {quasi visio maris,} "as the appearance of the seas," i.e., azure; and Dr. Geddes (on Ex 28:10) says, that, with {Abarbanel,} he believes the beryl to be intended. It is a pellucid gem, called by our lapidaries, {aqua marina,} of a sea or bluish green colour, found in the East Indies and about the gold mines of Peru. The genuine beryl never receives any other mixture of colour; and in its perfect state approaches the hardness of garnet.
