various versions; Josephus (Ant. Jud., III, vii, 6) also has "amethyst"; the Targum of Onkelos and the Syriac Version have "calf's eye", indicating the colour. The amethyst is a brilliant transparent stone of a purple colour and varies in shade from violet purple to rose. There are two kinds of amethysts: the oriental amethyst, a species of sapphire that is very hard (cf. Heb.,hlm), and when colourless is almost indistinguishable from the diamond. The occidental amethyst is of the silex family and is different in composition from the oriental stone. But the identity of names is accounted for by the identity of colour. The occidental amethyst is easily engraved and is found in a variety of sizes. Its shape is different from the round pebble to the hexagonal, pyramid-capped crystal. Beryl Beryl, Heb. yhlm; Sept. beryllos; Vulg. beryllus occupied the third place of the second row and in the breastplate, and was understood to represent Nephtali (Ex., xxviii, 19; xxxix, 13). According to the Septuagint, it was the second of the fourth row, and third of the fourth according to the Vulgate. Ezech., xxviii, 13, mentions it in the third place, and it is also cited in the Greek text of Tob., xiii, 17; however, it is missing in the Vulgate. Apoc., xxi, 20, gives it as the eighth stone of the foundation of the New Jerusalem. The etymological debate indicates a difference of opinion regarding the exact Hebrew correlative of this word. The best supported is yhlm, though shhm is also probable. shpht has also been suggested, but with little proof. Consequently, the Hebrew shpht must correspond to jasper, Gr. iaspis and Lat. jaspis. This mistaken idea probably arose from the supposition that the translated words originally occupied the same position in the original. Comparative analysis of the Greek and Latin translations demonstrates that this is not the case; in the Vulgate, jasper is in the same position as yshpht, whereas the Greek beryllos does not correspond to the Latin beryllus. The same may have happened regarding the translation of the Hebrew into Greek, especially because the old manner of writing the two words yshlm and shlm might be easily confused. Josephus is not reliable in this instance as he most likely quoted from memory; the position of the words being at variance in his two lists (Bell. Jud., V, v, 7; Ant. Jud., III, vii). Therefore, the ultimate