Jacinth

The stone which is called Jacinth in Rev 21:20, is the same which is called in the Old Testament a Ligure [See LIGURE].

Or HYACINTH, a gem of a yellowish red or hyacinth color, nearly related to zircon and to the amethyst. It loses its color by being heated, and resembles the diamond, Jer 9:17 21:20.\par .\par

Jacinth. A precious stone, forming one of the foundations of the walls of the new Jerusalem. Rev 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 Exo 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 Rev 9:17, "of jacinth," is descriptive simply of a dark-purple color.

("hyacinth".) A precious stone, a foundation of the New Jerusalem wall (Rev 21:20). Hebrew leshem, "ligure" in the high priest’s breast-plate (Exo 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 Rev 9:17 the "breast-plates 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.

Jacinth or Hyacinth, "amber" margin R. V. Exo 28:19. Probably the same as the ligure, a gem of a yellowish-red or a dark purple color, Rev 9:17; called "sapphire" in margin of R. V. Rev 21:20. In the former passage there is reference merely to its color.

The word ὑάκινθος signifies hyacinth, and this, as a colour, is a deep purple. In Rev 9:17 the horsemen had breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone, which seem to imply flashes of coloured light. In Rev 21:20 the jacinth garnishes the eleventh foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. It is supposed by some to be the same as the ligure. The Greek word occurs in the LXX in Exo 25:4; Exo 26:1, etc., but is translated ’blue.’

JACINTH.—See Jewels and Precious Stones, p. 467^a.

jā´sinth. See HYACINTH; STONES, PRECIOUS.

(ὑÜêéíèïò, Ital. giacinto)

Jacinth, or hyacinth, is the colour of the eleventh foundation-stone of the New Jerusalem (Rev_21:20). The cuirasses of apocalyptic horsemen are partly hyacinthine (Rev_9:17). The ὑÜêéíèïò of the ancients was probably our sapphire (Rev_21:20 [Revised Version margin]). The modern hyacinth, a variety of zircon, of yellowish red colour, may have been the stone known in Gr. as ëïãýñéïí and in Heb. as leshem (the Revised Version of Exo_28:19; Exo_39:12 has ‘jacinth’ where the Authorized Version has ‘ligure’); but Flinders Petrie (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iv. 620) suggests that the latter was yellow quartz or agate. Many Greek and Roman ‘hyacinths,’ used for intaglios and cameos, were probably only garnets.

James Strahan.