The occurrences of 'glister' in AV 1611 are: (1) Job 20^ ' tlie glistering sword cometli out of his gall ' (p"i5 bdrdk, a word used either lit. of ' lightning,' and then mostly in the plur. ' lightning flashes,' or fig. of the lightning-Hash of a weapon. This fig. use is always applied to a weapon. AV then tr. by ' glitter' in Dt S?*', Ezk 2V- ^, Nah 3', Hab 3" ; but in Ezk 21" the feeble tr° is found ' it is made bright,' RV ' it is made as lightning,' as in vv.i»-28. In Dt 32^i the Heb. is particularly bold : ' If I whet the lightning of my sword,' as RVm, EV ' If I whet my glittering sword '). We find 'glister' applied to armour by Spenser, FQ I. i. 14—
• His gUstring armor made A little glooming light, much like a shade.'
And by North, Plutarch, p. 395, ' For the glister- ing of their harness, so richly trimmed and set forth with gold and silver, the colours of their arming coats upon their curaces, after the fashion of the Medes and Scythians, mingled with the bright glistering steel and shining copper, gave such a show as they went and removed to and fro, that made a light as clear as if all had been on a very lire, a fearful thing to look upon.' The early Eng. versions apply the word frequently to lire, as Gov. Is 50" ' Ye walke in the glistringe of youre owne fyre' ; Ezk 1* 'And I loked, and beholde, a stormy wynde came out off the north with a greate cloude full of fyre, which with his glistre lightened all rounde aboute' ; and v.'^ 'and the fyre gaue a glistre,t and out off the fyre there wente lighten- inge.'
(2) 1 Ch 20= 'glistering stones' (-is-}:n; RV * stones for inlaid work '). RV is rather an inter- pretation than a translation. The puk was an eye-pt int made of antimony, much used by Eastern ladies, and not coniined to ladies (see Lane, Mod. Egyptians, Gardner's ed. p. 53 j and
* Nor in Shaks. or Milton, though it is at least as old as Udall, on Ac 10 : ' And sodainly beholde a certain man, whose countenaunce was full of maiestie, stood viBible before me, in a glistening garmente.'
t In the New Ed. of Jamieson'a Scottish Dictifmarn (vol. ii. 1886) we find the entry ; * Gli-stbr, subst. Lustre, glitter, **The
f lister of the profeit, "that was jugeit heirof to have insewit to cottis men, at the first sicht blindit mony menis eyis" — Enox, Hx-ii. p. 110. Su.— G. gliitra, scintilla, Teut. glintfter, id. glimteren, glisteren, scintillare, fulijere. Althougii gluter be used in En^. as a verb, 1 have not observed that it occurs as a eubst.' But here are two examples from Coverdale, and at vM the Oen. and Bishops' Bibles have the aubst also.
Shaw, Travels in Barbar>/, 220). The woid occurs also in 2 K 9*", where in AVm the Heb. ii tr'' literally, '.Jezebel . . . put her eyes in paint in';' ; Is 51", where ' I will lay tliy stones in fail colours' is lit. as RVm 'in antimony' (it is the mortar, says Orelli, with which the new stones of Jerusalem will be set, that they may shine forth like dazzling eyes) ; and Jer 4*" where the eve- paint is directly spoken of. The nearest parallel to our passage is Is 54", and the 'glistering' of AV is better than the ' inlaid ' of RV ; for some kind of coloured, brilliant stone seems meant. The LXX rendering is XiBovi ToXi/reXas ('very costly stones ') ; Vulg. quasi slibinos (stibium, antimony) ; Wye. 1388 ' stonys as of the colour of wymmens oynement' ; Luth. eint/efasste Ruhinen (taking the previous word along with this) ; so Cov. ' set Rubyes ' ; Rog. 'set stones,' with marg. 'some read Carbuncle, or ani other precious stone called Stibion ' ; Gen. ' carbuncle stones ' ; Bish. ' glyster- ing stones ' ; Dou. ' as it were stibians,' with marg. 'a kind of finne white stone'; Ostorvald, /)ierrc« d'escarboncle; iiegond,i/ierresbriUa}>tes; Kautzsch, Puchsteine, with marg. ' /jj/M hedeutct anderwarts die Augonschminke, hezeichnet also wohl eincn schwarzgliinzendeii Stein ' ; Cheyne, ' stones of (i.e. edged with) antimony.' For the Eng. word ef. Spenser, FQ 1. iv. 8 —
' A mayden Queene that shone, as Titans ray, In glistring gold and peerelesse pretious stone.'
(3) 2 Es 10^ ' And it came to pass, while I was talking with her, behold, her face upon a sudden shined exceedingly, and her countenance glistered, so that I was afraid of her and mused what it might be' (species [Fritzsche specie] coruscus fiebat visus ejus, RV 'her countenance glistered like lightning'). The countenance has the epithet ' glister ' applied to it in Spenser's Utjmne uj Heavenly Beautie, quoted under GLASS —
* His glorious face I wluch glistereth else so bright, That th' Angels selues can not endure his sight.'
(4) 1 Mac 6'" ' Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the mountains glistered therewith, and shined like lamps of fire' ((is Si ^aTiKj3ei/ 6 TfXtos ^irl rds xpvaSi^ kclI xaX^as [A omits Kal x^X/cas] acjiriSa^, ^criX^^v rh. 6ptj citt' ai'rwv, Kal Kar-qvyal^ei' lis \a/nrd5fs wvp6s ; RV ' Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the mountains shone therewith, and blazed like torches of fire '). The verb aTlX^eiv occurs once in NT, Mk 9' in the narrative of Christ's transfigura- tion, rd i^&Tia avTov ^Iv^TO ffriX^ovra, where RV renders ' his garments became glistering,' after Rhera. version.