jacinth Summary and Overview

properly a flower of a reddish blue or deep purple (hyacinth), and hence a precious stone of that colour (Rev. 21:20). It has been supposed to designate the same stone as the ligure (Heb. leshem) mentioned in Ex. 28:19 as the first stone of the third row in the high priest's breast-plate. In Rev. 9:17 the word is simply descriptive of colour.

a precious stone, forming one of the foundations of the walls of the new Jerusalem. #Re 21:20| Called hyacinth in the Revised Version. This is simply a different English rendering of the same Greek original. It is probably identical with the lighure of #Ex 28:19| The Jacinth or hyacinth is a red variety of zircon, which is found in square prisms of a white, gray, red, reddish-brown, yellow or pale-green color. The expression in #Re 9:17| "of jacinth," is descriptive simply of a dark-purple color.

JACINTH , or HY'ACINTH, probably the same as the ligure, Ex 28:19, a gem of a yellowish-red or a dark-purple color, resembling the amethyst. Rev 9:17; Rev 21:20. In the former passage there is reference merely to its color.

"hyacinth." A precious stone, a foundation of the New Jerusalem wall (Revelation 21:20). Hebrew leshem , "ligure" in the high priest's breastplate (Exodus 28:19). A red zircon, found in square prisms, varying from pale green to purple red. "Ligure" in Speaker's Commentary is explained by "amber," which, according to Pliny and Theophrastus, came from Liguria. Smith's Bible Dictionary says "ligurite is a crystallized mineral of a yellowish or apple-green hue found in Liguria, 'jacinth' seems identical with Hebrew [ leshem ]." In Revelation 9:17 the "breastplates of jacinth" are of hyacinth color, the dark blue iris color answering to the "smoke out of their mouths." Pliny says (37:41), the violet brightness in the amethyst is diluted in the jacinth. Solinus makes the,jacinth our sapphire.