Ezekiel 10:9

Verse Ezekiel 10:9. The colour of a beryl stone.] אבן תרשיש eben Tarshish, "the stone of Tarshish." The Vulgate translates it chrysolith; Symmachus, the jacinct; the Septuagint, the carbuncle. In the parallel place, Ezekiel 1:16, it is כעין תרשיש keeyn Tarshish, "like the eye of Tarshish;" i.e., the colour of tarshish, or the stone so called, which the Vulgate translates visio maris, "like the sea," i.e., azure. The beryl is a gem of a green colour, passing from one side into blue, on the other side into yellow. The chrysolith is also green, what is called pistachio green; but the chrysolith of the ancients was our topaz, which is of a fine wine yellow. The beryl, or chrysolith, is most likely what is here meant by tarshish. One name among the ancients served for several kinds of gems that were nearly of the same colour. The moderns go more by chemical characters than by colour.