Beryl
Beryl is the uniform rendering in the Auth. Vers. only of the Heb. תִּרשִׁישׁ, 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 (Ex 28:20; Ex 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 Song 5:14, as being set in rings of gold; and in Da 10:6, the body of the man whom Daniel saw in vision is said to be like the beryl. In Re 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 Ex 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 5:14, and in Da 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 Re 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.
