Greek word · G5555

χρυσόλιθος

chrysolithos

chrysolite

'Gold-stone': a translucent golden or yellow gem. Pliny (37.126) describes chrysolithos as transparent with a golden gleam. The exact mineral is uncertain; yellow topaz, citrine or another golden stone have all been proposed.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

χρυσό-λιθος, -ου, ὁ

[in LXX: Exodus 28:20 36:20 (Exodus 39:13), Ezekiel 28:13 (תַּרְשִׁישׁ) * ;]

a chrysolite (on its identification, see Swete, Ap., 288 f.; DB, iv, 620): Revelation 21:20.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Revelation 21:20

Range of meaning

'Gold-stone': a translucent golden or yellow gem. Pliny (37.126) describes chrysolithos as transparent with a golden gleam. The exact mineral is uncertain; yellow topaz, citrine or another golden stone have all been proposed.

Against the English

Every major English version keeps 'chrysolite.' In modern gem language, however, 'chrysolite' is a name for olivine/peridot, a green stone. An English reader who looks it up today gets green where the Greek name says gold.

How it drifted

In later centuries mineral names shifted. 'Chrysolite' was attached to green olivine, while the ancient golden chrysolithos came to be sold under other names, quite possibly 'topaz.'

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 28:20 and 39:13 LXX: first stone of the fourth row of the breastplate (for Hebrew tarshish). Ezek 28:13 LXX. Ezek 1:16 and 10:9 and Dan 10:6 LXX use tarshish/θαρσις for the gleam of the throne-chariot wheels and the angel's body. Josephus, Antiquities 3.168.

Similar words

Where it appears

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 21:20 χρυσόλιθος, chrysolite,

    the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

    Here: The name means 'gold-stone,' and Pliny describes it as golden and translucent. It was probably a yellow stone, not the green mineral modern gem-sellers call chrysolite. It is the tenth breastplate stone in the Greek Old Testament (Exod 28:20).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.