III. Bareketh. [בָּרֶקֶת.] Here the Septuagint, Josephus, and the Vulgate agree in translating _smaragdus_, and as we know that emerald mines were worked at Mount Zabarah, in Nubia, before the beginning of our era, and that the emerald was known and used in Egypt, there does not seem to be any reason for rejecting the usual translation “emerald.” Still it must be admitted that _smaragdus_ often designates other green stones than the emerald. The suggestion has been made (by Myers and Petrie) that the passage in Revelation iv, 3, where the rainbow is likened to the _smaragdus_, indicates that the writer used this name for rock-crystal; but this conjecture is scarcely satisfactory, since it confuses the prismatic effects of light which has traversed the crystal with the crystal itself. There can be little doubt that a stone of brilliant coloration, like the emerald, not a colorless one, like rock-crystal, would be used as a simile of the rainbow. Whether the Mosaic breastplate already contained the emerald is another question, and it seems rather more likely that green feldspar, freely used in ancient Egypt for amulets, and known as _uat_, was the third stone of the proto-breastplate. The Authorized Version makes “the carbuncle” the third instead of the fourth stone. Upon the _bereketh_ was engraved the name Levi. IV. Nophek. [נֹפֶךּ.] This name is rendered ἄνθραξ by the Septuagint and Josephus, and “carbunculus” by the Vulgate. This designation, signifying literally “a glowing coal,” was used for certain stones distinguished by their peculiarly brilliant red color, such as the ruby and certain fine garnets. While it is quite possible that the Oriental ruby may have been in the breastplate seen by Josephus, it is almost certain that it could not have been in the original breastplate of Mosaic times, since there is absolutely no proof that this stone was known in ancient Egypt. Hence we are inclined to believe that in the thirteenth century B.C. the name _nophek_ designated the almandine garnet, or some similar variety of that stone. The Authorized Version has “emerald” here instead of in the third place. On this fourth stone of the breastplate was engraved the tribal name of Judah. [Illustration: CROSS, ATTACHED AS PENDANT TO THE CROWN OF THE GOTHIC KING RECCESVINTHUS (649-672 A.D.). Forming part of the treasure discovered in 1858 at Guarrazar in Spain. Now in Musée de Cluny, Paris. The cross proper is set with fine sapphires cut en cabochon and eight large pearls. Natural size.]