ONYX, the precious Stone so called, was the eleventh in the High-priests Pectoral. The Hebrew calls it Shohem1, which Word is differently translated in Scripture, by Onyx, Sardonyx, Emerald. We think its true Signification to be the Emerald. The Commentators may be consulted upon Gen. ii. 12. As to the Onyx, ‘tis a kind of Agat, of a whitish black Colour; and as the white therein has something of the Colour of a Man’s Nail, it has obtained the Name of the Onyx, or the Nail.
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Footnotes
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Exod. xxviii. 20. שהםLXX. Joseph Aquil. Hieron. Jun. Lud. de Dieu alii plures. Onychinus lapis. Et Exod. xxviii. 9. The same Term is translated by St. Jerom, Sym. & Theodot. Onyx, by the LXX. and many others Smaragdus. ↩