Exodus 28:18

Summary

Exodus 28:18 specifies the three stones set in the second row of the priestly breastplate: nofekh ("turquoise", H5306), sapir ("sapphire", H5601), and yahalom ("emerald", H3095). The verse is structured as a list following the pattern established for each row of stones on the ephod breastplate.

Key words

• Tur ("row", H2905) — masculine singular noun, referring to a horizontal line of stones set into the breastplate.
• ha.sheNi ("the second", H9009 + H8145) — definite article prefixed to the ordinal number, marking this as the second of four rows described in the passage.
• Nofekh ("turquoise", H5306) — masculine singular noun naming the first stone of this row.
• Sapir ("sapphire", H5601) — masculine singular noun naming the second stone.
• Yahalom ("emerald", H3095) — masculine singular noun, joined to the previous word by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), marking it as the final item in the list.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has no verb; it is a nominal clause consisting of a definite noun phrase (ve.ha.Tur ha.sheNi, "and the second row") followed by three stone names in apposition, functioning as an implied predicate — literally "and the second row: turquoise, sapphire, and emerald." Only the last item receives the conjunction ve, a common Hebrew listing pattern where the final element of a series is joined with "and" while the earlier items stand asyndetically (without conjunction) next to each other. This creates a terse, catalog-like structure typical of the inventory lists in this chapter.

The definite article on Tur and on the ordinal sheNi ties this verse grammatically to the preceding verse, which presumably introduced "the first row"; the article marks this row as a specific, previously contextualized item rather than a generic one. The three stone nouns themselves carry no further grammatical marking (no article, no case), consistent with their function as a bare list of material objects.

Differences between versions

The identification of the three stones diverges notably across traditions. Where the Hebrew has Nofekh, the LXX gives ἄνθραξ ("carbuncle"), the Vulgate carbunculus, and modern translations render it "turquoise" (BSB, SBLIBRE) or "esmeralda" (RV1909). For Sapir, all versions agree on "sapphire" (σάπφειρος, sapphirus). For Yahalom, the LXX has ἴασπις ("jasper"), the Vulgate jaspis, while BSB gives "diamond," RV1909 "diamante," and SBLIBRE "esmeralda." The LXX and Vulgate order and name the stones consistently with each other but differ from the Hebrew-based modern translations in which specific gemstone each Hebrew term is understood to denote.