Exodus 28:17-21

Twelve precious stones, each engraved with the name of one of the tribes of Israel, to be arranged in gold settings in four rows of three each, and fastened in front of the pouch. The identity of several of the stones mentioned is very uncertain; for philology throws little or no light upon the meanings of the names, and the ancient Versions in several cases give inconsistent renderings, or renderings which are themselves of uncertain interpretation. The oldest interpretations of the names are those given by the LXX.; and in identifying these, much help is afforded by Theophrastus, On Stones[c.300 b.c.), and notices in Pliny, H. N.See more fully Petrie, DB.iv. 619 ff., and esp. J. L. Myres, EB.iv. 4799 ff. The list is repeated in Exodus 39:10-13: comp. also the lists in Ezekiel 28:13 (the 1st, 2nd, and 4th rows here, the stones being however differently arranged) of stones in the -covering," or decorated garment, of the king of Tyre, and in Revelation 21:19 f. of the stones forming the foundations of the walls of the New Jerusalem (cf. Isaiah 54:11 f.; Tob 13:16 f.).