THE STONES OF The Twelve Tribes of Israel

Created by pastorbuddy on 3/11/2009

High Priest Breastplate Gemstones

Many gem scholars agree that the tradition of birthstones arose from the Breastplate of Aaron: a ceremonial religious garment set with twelve gemstones that represented the twelve tribes of Israel and also corresponded with the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twelve months of the year. “It was square — a span [22 centimeters] long and a span wide — and folded double. Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it.

“In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz and a beryl; in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald; in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. They were mounted in gold filigree settings.”

Authorized version (King James’ Bible) 1611

It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled. And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row. And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in pouches of gold in their enclosings. And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes.
I have assumed that the list should read from right to left, since this is the way that the original list was written.

Breastplate Layout 1

Carbuncle	Topaz	Sardius
Diamond	Sapphire	Emerald
Amethyst	Agate	? Ligure
Jasper	Onyx	Beryl

The King James’ translation of the Bible is nearly 400 years old. Some of the stones may have been mistranslated, or the names used for different stones. There are doubts as to what ‘ligure’ means. Diamond seems unlikely, since the stone must be big enough to carve a tribe of Israel on! The New English Bible gives a different translation (see below).

New English Bible – 1970

“They made the breast-plate square, folded, a span long and a span wide.
They set in it four rows of precious stones: the first row, sardin, chrysolite and green feldspar;
the second row, purple garnet, lapis lazuli and jade;
the third row, turquoise, agate and jasper;
the fourth row, topaz, cornelian and green jasper, all set in gold rosettes.
The stones corresponded to the twelve sons of Israel, name by name, each bearing the name of one of the twelve tribes engraved as on a seal.”

Again I have made the assumption of right to left listing.

Breastplate Layout 2

Green Feldspar	Chrysolite	Sardin
Jade	Lapis Lazuli	Garnet
Red Jasper	Agate	Turquoise
Green Jasper	Carnelian	Topaz

You can see that several of the stones are different from the King James’ version. The New English Bible used modern scholars ideas for what the likely stones were, but there is still disagreement. “Ligure” may be amber, rather than turquoise. There are other versions of the minerals of the High Priest’s breast-plate. I have restricted myself to two conventional translations of the Bible.