HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H3958
לֶ֫שֶׁם
le.shem — jacinth
1) a precious stone 1a) a precious stone in the high priest's breast-plate 1a1) probably jacinth or ligure
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Ligure
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
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.
Historical dictionary entry
(Heb. leshem) occurs only in Ex. 28:19 and 39:12, as the name of a stone in the third row on the high priest’s breastplate. Some have supposed that this stone was the same as the jacinth (q.v.), others that it was the opal. There is now no mineral bearing this name. The “ligurite” is so named from Liguria in Italy, where it was found.
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.