Bible Dictionary
Jacinth
Jacinth is a reddish-blue or deep-purple precious stone. In Revelation it appears among the foundations of the New Jerusalem, and the same word describes a dark-purple color elsewhere.
Definition
Jacinth is a precious stone or a reddish-blue to deep-purple color. It is associated with the hyacinth and is described as a stone of red, reddish-brown, or related coloring. The word can also function simply as a color description.
Biblical Usage
Jacinth is named among the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem. In another passage, “of jacinth” describes a dark-purple color rather than necessarily naming a particular stone.
Historical Background
The stone has been identified in the supplied material with a red variety of zircon and possibly with the ligure of the high priest’s breastplate. The Revised Version uses “hyacinth” for the same Greek term.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Properly a flower of a reddish blue or deep purple (hyacinth), and hence a precious stone of that colour (Rev. 21:20). It has been supposed to designate the same stone as the ligure (Heb. leshem) mentioned in Ex. 28:19 as the first stone of the third row in the high priest’s breast-plate. In Rev. 9:17 the word is simply descriptive of colour.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
a precious stone, forming one of the foundations of the walls of the new Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:20) Called hyacinth in the Revised Version. This is simply a different English rendering of the same Greek original. It is probably identical with the lighure of (Exodus 28:19) The Jacinth or hyacinth is a red variety of zircon, which is found in square prisms of a white, gray, red, reddish-brown, yellow or pale-green color. The expression in (Revelation 9:17) “of jacinth,” is descriptive simply of a dark-purple color.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ja'-sinth.</p><p>See HYACINTH; STONES, PRECIOUS.</p>