| Easton's Bible Dictionary (Hebrews shamir), Ezek. 3:9. The Greek word adamas means diamond. This stone is not referred to, but corundum or some kind of hard steel. It is an emblem of firmness in resisting adversaries of the truth (Zechariah 7:12), and of hard-heartedness against the truth (Jeremiah 17:1). Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) Unyielding in opinion; also a stone or diamond perceived to be of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substances of extreme hardness; but in modern mineralogy it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness. 2. (n.) Lodestone; magnet. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia ADAMANT ad'-a-mant (shamir (Ezekiel 3:9 Zechariah 7:12)): In the passages cited and in Jeremiah 17:1, where it is rendered "diamond" the word shamir evidently refers to a hard stone. The word adamant ("unconquerable") is used in the early Greek writers for a hard metal, perhaps steel, later for a metal-like gold and later for the diamond. The Hebrew shamir, the Greek adamas (from which word "diamond" as well as "adamant" is derived) and the English adamant occur regularly in figurative expressions. All three are equally indefinite. Adamant may therefore be considered a good translation for shamir, though the Septuagint does not use adamas in the passages cited. There is a possible etymological identification of shamir with the Greek smyris (smeris or smiris), emery, a granular form of corundum well known to the ancients and used by them for polishing and engraving precious stones. Corundum in all its forms, including the sapphire and ruby, is in the scale of hardness next to the diamond. In English Versions of the Bible Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 7:23-25; 9:18; 10:17; 27:04:00; 32:13, shamir is translated "brier". See also STONES, PRECIOUS.
Alfred Ely Day | Multi-Version Concordance Adamant (2 Occurrences) Ezekiel 3:9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV) Zechariah 7:12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV) |