ראמות, Job xxviii, 18; Ezek. xxvii, 16; a hard, cretaceous,
marine production, resembling in figure the stem of a plant, divided
into branches. It is of different colours,--black, white, and red. The
latter is the sort emphatically called coral, as being the most
valuable, and usually made into ornaments. This, though no gem, is
ranked by the author of the book of Job, xxviii, 18, with the onyx and
sapphire. Dr. Good observes, “It is by no means certain what the words
here rendered ‘corals and pearls,’ and those immediately afterward
rendered ‘rubies and topaz,’ really signified. Reiske has given up the
inquiry as either hopeless or useless; and Schultens has generally
introduced the Hebrew words themselves, and left the reader of the
translation to determine as he may. Our common version is, in the main,
concurrent with most of the oriental renderings: and I see no reason to
deviate from it.”
marine production, resembling in figure the stem of a plant, divided
into branches. It is of different colours,--black, white, and red. The
latter is the sort emphatically called coral, as being the most
valuable, and usually made into ornaments. This, though no gem, is
ranked by the author of the book of Job, xxviii, 18, with the onyx and
sapphire. Dr. Good observes, “It is by no means certain what the words
here rendered ‘corals and pearls,’ and those immediately afterward
rendered ‘rubies and topaz,’ really signified. Reiske has given up the
inquiry as either hopeless or useless; and Schultens has generally
introduced the Hebrew words themselves, and left the reader of the
translation to determine as he may. Our common version is, in the main,
concurrent with most of the oriental renderings: and I see no reason to
deviate from it.”