Beryl

A beryl is a gem, and the Bible uses it for beauty and for something beyond ordinary sight. It sits in the high priest’s breastplate in Exodus 28:20, among stones “set in gold in their inclosings.” In the Song of Solomon the beloved’s hands are “as gold rings set with the beryl.” Ezekiel says the wheels in his vision were “like unto the colour of a beryl,” and Revelation 21:20 counts it among the foundations of the city’s wall. Wherever it appears, the stone marks something precious.

4 verses

Exodus

Exodus 28:20

And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.

Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon 5:14

His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1:16

The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Revelation

Revelation 21:20

The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

The rendering in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew word tarshish, a precious stone; probably so called as being brought from Tarshish. It was one of the stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:20; R.V. marg., “chalcedony;” 39:13). The colour of the wheels in Ezekiel’s vision was as the colour of a beryl stone (1:16; 10:9; R.V., “stone of Tarshish”). It is mentioned in Cant. 5:14; Dan. 10:6; Rev. 21:20. In Ezek. 28:13 the LXX. render the word by “chrysolite,” which the Jewish historian Josephus regards as its proper translation. This also is the rendering given in the Authorized Version in the margin. That was a gold-coloured gem, the topaz of ancient authors.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(tarshish) occurs in (Exodus 28:20) It is generally supposed that the tarshish derives its name from the place so called, in Spain. Beryl is a mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. By tarshish the modern yellow topaz is probably intended, while in (Revelation 21:20) a different stone is perhaps referred to, probably the mineral now called beryl, which is identical with the emerald except in color, being a light green or bluish-green.