BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H306
ach.la.mah — amethyst
amethyst, a gem in the third row on the ephod, breastplate of judgment worn by the high priest. Transliteration of the Septuagint word. Identification is not certain but is a purple stone perhaps a corundum or red or brown jasper.
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →GREEK · G271
amethustos — amethyst
ἀμέθυστος, -ου, ἡ (accusative to Plut., ἀ- μεθύω, being regarded as an antidote against drunkenness) [in LXX: Exo.28:19 36:19 39:12 Eze.28:13 * ;] amethyst, a purple quartz: Rev.21:20.† (AS)
1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →One of the precious stones in the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:19; 39:12), and in the foundation of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:20). The ancients thought that this stone had the power of dispelling drunkenness in all who wore or touched it, and hence its Greek name formed from a_, “privative,” and _methuo, “to get drunk.” Its Jewish name, ahlamah’, was derived by the rabbins from the Hebrew word halam, “to dream,” from its supposed power of causing the wearer to dream. It is a pale-blue crystallized quartz, varying to a dark purple blue. It is found in Persia and India, also in different parts of Europe.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
