David took the crown from their king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city

• 2 Samuel 12:30

And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
(Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones.

• 1 Kings 10:10-11

Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite.

• 1 Chronicles 29:8

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.

• Isaiah 28:16

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

• 1 Peter 2:4-6

“Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. …

• Exodus 28:15-17a

They fashioned the breastpiece—the work of a skilled craftsman. They made it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It was square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. …

• Exodus 39:8-10a

How well do you know your precious stones?

Did you know that the breastplate had twelve stones?  The walls of the New Jerusalem will be of one precious stone and the walls will have twelve precious stones in the foundations.  And there are twelve birthstones, one for each month, but the lists differ.

And in Ezekiel, he sees someone adorned with nine precious stones.

This may be a strange quiz, maybe a quiz that is too hard, but I hope it causes you to think.  I learned a lot.

The answers are in alphabetical order: Agate, Amethyst, Beryl, Carnelian, Chrysolite, Emerald, Jacinth, Jasper, Lapis Lazuli, Onyx, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Turquoise.

Question ten is a yes/no question.  In the other nine questions, all fourteen of these answers are used once, although one of the answers is mentioned twice (Quest. 2 and 3) and another of the answers is mentioned four times (Quest. 5, 6, 8, 9).

And in Revelation, the walls are made of jasper.  If Rev. MacArthur is correct and the stone known as jasper in biblical times is a diamond today, we will be able to see through the walls of the New Jerusalem.  Streets of gold and walls of diamond and foundations using twelve of the fourteen stones available in the answers.  And I think that the two discrepancies are either like Rev. MacArthur says or a stone that looks like one or the other, roughly the same color.  Thus, the similar color could lead to the names of the stones changing over time.

WARNING: The answers in this quiz are based on the latest version of the NIV. Older versions of the NIV use different precious stones for some Bible verses. One in particular, that I had as Topaz, was a Sapphire in one translation and a Lapis Lazuli in another. There is the difficulty of the names of the precious stones changing and the translation of a description of a stone from one language to another. That one verse might negate the first answer, for instance. Umm, this became a warning and a hint.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Of the twelve stones in the breastplate and the twelve stones in the wall foundations of the New Jerusalem, which is the only precious stone mentioned once in the NIV? In the book of Revelation.
2	Which other stone that is mentioned only in Revelation is mentioned only twice?
3	Since question 2 hints of the other mention of the number 2 answer, it is in reference to the One who sits on the throne in Heaven.  What other precious stone is used in describing the One sitting on the throne, and what does the “rainbow” encircling the throne look like?
4	In the prophecy against Tyre, Ezekiel says that “the leader of Tyre” was in the Garden at the beginning and adorned with every precious stone, but what three stones of the breastplate are missing in the Ezekiel list? Extra credit for mentioning which row of the four rows of the breastplate.
5	What two precious stones are mentioned in the making of the breastplate, but are not in the foundations of the New Jerusalem?
6	Which of these precious stones is mentioned the most in the NIV, just one more time than one of the stones that answer question 5?
7	What two stones are only mentioned as being part of the breastplate, a foundation stone for the New Jerusalem walls, and in the one (Tyre) described in Ezekiel? Four mentions each.
8	Other than the stone that is part of the question 5 answer, this stone is the only other stone mentioned in the Song of Songs (Solomon).
9	Isaiah’s prophecy about the rebuilding of Zion (Jerusalem), it will be rebuilt of what precious stone, with its foundations being part of question 5 and also the extra stone mentioned in question 8?
10	Are any of these precious stones mentioned in any other book of the New Testament other than Revelation?

In Rev. John MacArthur’s Bible Commentary, he says that the names of precious stones have changed over the centuries.  Jasper is now an opaque stone, but it is thought to be the name for diamonds in biblical times.  The word “diamond” does not appear in the NIV.

To add to that, I bought my wife a ruby ring in a small, off-the-main-road, shop in Pattaya, Thailand.  My wife knew that I had no idea what I was looking at.  She wanted to know if I had been cheated.  She went to a jewelry store in the mall, one that advertises a lot on television.  She showed the ring to the girl behind the counter.  The girl said that the ring was a poor fake.  The ring was far too yellow to be real gold, and the red stone was absolutely clear, obviously glass.  The manager ran out of his office and eagerly asked my wife for a look at the ring through his loop.  He nearly drooled.  He offered her more than ten times what I had paid for the ring, which was possibly one tenth of what he would sell the ring for.  My wife said she was keeping the ring, but she wanted to know why the sudden change from the girl to the manager.  He said that the USA sells 18 carat gold settings, and this was “too yellow” because it was a lot more than 18 carat gold, probably about 21-22 carat gold, since more purity might make the gold too soft to keep its shape.  Then the manager explained to his employee that all rubies sold in the USA were manufactured, and there was a certain amount of a smoky look to the stone.  But a pure, natural ruby would be clear.  Only with careful examination could you rule out a natural stone or glass.  I had not been cheated.

With that story that I have told before, the look of the stones might change over the years, not just the names of the stones.

And before people start moaning about how Exodus 28 and Exodus 39 are the same thing – you know, the redundancy of the redundancy department – there is an important lesson here.  Exodus 28 is God saying “Make it this way” while Exodus 39 says that they obeyed, done to the last detail.  We should take that to heart when we worship God in Spirit and in Truth.  Our worship comes from the heart, and we surrender to the one on the throne in Heaven.  The details of how that happens are immaterial depending on whether you worship in Spirit and in Truth.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Of the twelve stones in the breastplate and the twelve stones in the wall foundations of the New Jerusalem, which is the only precious stone mentioned once in the NIV? In the book of Revelation.	Revelation 21:19
2	Which other stone that is mentioned only in Revelation is mentioned only twice?	Revelation 4:3 and Revelation 21:20
3	Since question 2 hints of the other mention of the number 2 answer, it is in reference to the One who sits on the throne in Heaven.  What other precious stone is used in describing the One sitting on the throne, and what does the “rainbow” encircling the throne look like?	Revelation 4:3
4	In the prophecy against Tyre, Ezekiel says that “the leader of Tyre” was in the Garden at the beginning and adorned with every precious stone, but what three stones of the breastplate are missing in the Ezekiel list? Extra credit for mentioning which row of the four rows of the breastplate.	Ezekiel 28:13 and Exodus 28:19 and Exodus 39:12
5	What two precious stones are mentioned in the making of the breastplate, but are not in the foundations of the New Jerusalem?	Exodus 28:17-18
6	Which of these precious stones is mentioned the most in the NIV, just one more time than one of the stones that answer question 5?	Genesis 2:12
7	What two stones are only mentioned as being part of the breastplate, a foundation stone for the New Jerusalem walls, and in the one (Tyre) described in Ezekiel? Four mentions each.	Ezekiel 28:13 and Exodus 28:19 and Exodus 39:12 and Revelation 20:
8	Other than the stone that is part of the question 5 answer, this stone is the only other stone mentioned in the Song of Songs (Solomon).	Song of Songs 5:14
9	Isaiah’s prophecy about the rebuilding of Zion (Jerusalem), it will be rebuilt of what precious stone, with its foundations being part of question 5 and also the extra stone mentioned in question 8?	Isaiah 54:11
10	Are any of these precious stones mentioned in any other book of the New Testament other than Revelation?	N/A

The prophecy by Ezekiel against the island city of Tyre has a break about halfway through the chapter.  It mentions that the leader of Tyre was in the Garden at the beginning, meaning the Garden of Eden.  This person is described in glowing terms, even likening this person to an angel.  It seems obvious that the Lord, through a painful metaphor, is likening the ruler of Tyre to Satan himself.

But think of it.  We have many cities of Tyre around the world.  They give weapons of war to some countries and not others, but they do not send troops.  Let’s let those people die while we make money.  And they sit back and publicly shake their heads about why there cannot be peace.  But they laugh as they deposit the cash made into the bank.

Tyre sat off the coast and the ships could easily dock there.  Tyre made the profit by sending the goods onto shore at a sizeable markup.

Satan sits in a lower heaven than God, and Satan’s fallen angels do the dirty work, while he sits and laughs at the trouble being caused.

Yes, I think the metaphor fits.

But only nine of the stones in the breastplate are mentioned as adorning this person while in the Garden.  The answer to question four being the three that are missing in Ezekiel’s description.

But before we start saying that there is something wrong here, it states that these nine stones were the only precious stones on earth, but let’s add “at the time.”  This description, given by Ezekiel while in exile, was of pre-Fall of Man times.  God’s curse on the serpent, the man, and the woman also included a curse on the earth.  We have no idea what upheaval that curse caused and the three missing stones might be the result of the upheaval.  Besides, if that was not the creation of those stones, the global flood of the time of Noah was created by tremendous shifting of tectonic plates around the world to open the underground stores of water and then again allow the water to go back into those underground stores.  With all that shifting, and probably more eruptions of volcanoes then than have ever occurred since, the three missing stones could be created.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Of the twelve stones in the breastplate and the twelve stones in the wall foundations of the New Jerusalem, which is the only precious stone mentioned once in the NIV? In the book of Revelation.	Revelation 21:19	Sapphire
2	Which other stone that is mentioned only in Revelation is mentioned only twice?	Revelation 4:3 and Revelation 21:20	Ruby
3	Since question 2 hints of the other mention of the number 2 answer, it is in reference to the One who sits on the throne in Heaven.  What other precious stone is used in describing the One sitting on the throne, and what does the “rainbow” encircling the throne look like?	Revelation 4:3	The One sitting on the throne looked like jasper and ruby.  The “rainbow” that encircled the throne looked like emerald.
4	In the prophecy against Tyre, Ezekiel says that “the leader of Tyre” was in the Garden at the beginning and adorned with every precious stone, but what three stones of the breastplate are missing in the Ezekiel list? Extra credit for mentioning which row of the four rows of the breastplate.	Ezekiel 28:13 and Exodus 28:19 and Exodus 39:12	The entire third row of the breastplate: jacinth, agate, amethyst.
5	What two precious stones are mentioned in the making of the breastplate, but are not in the foundations of the New Jerusalem?	Exodus 28:17-18	Carnelian and Lapis Lazuli
6	Which of these precious stones is mentioned the most in the NIV, just one more time than one of the stones that answer question 5?	Genesis 2:12	Onyx, first mentioned for being found in the land of Havilah where the Pishon River leaves the Garden of Eden and runs through the land.
7	What two stones are only mentioned as being part of the breastplate, a foundation stone for the New Jerusalem walls, and in the one (Tyre) described in Ezekiel? Four mentions each.	Ezekiel 28:13 and Exodus 28:19 and Exodus 39:12 and Revelation 20:	Chrysolite and Beryl
8	Other than the stone that is part of the question 5 answer, this stone is the only other stone mentioned in the Song of Songs (Solomon).	Song of Songs 5:14	Topaz, the other precious stone being Lapis Lazuli
9	Isaiah’s prophecy about the rebuilding of Zion (Jerusalem), it will be rebuilt of what precious stone, with its foundations being part of question 5 and also the extra stone mentioned in question 8?	Isaiah 54:11	Rebuilt of turquoise, with foundations of Lapis Lazuli
10	Are any of these precious stones mentioned in any other book of the New Testament other than Revelation?	N/A	No. Only in describing the One seated on the throne of Heaven and in the walls and foundation of the walls of the New Jerusalem.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Hawk Nelson singing Diamonds.  Since the word “diamond” is not mentioned in the NIV, I asked whether there are any Christian songs with the word “diamond.”  And this is a very satisfying way of using a word not in the Bible.

Here is Nik Day singing Diamond.  Another song much like the first, focusing on the result more than the pressure that it takes to make diamond.

Here is Chris Tomlin singing Precious Love.  After all, we give precious stones to those we love, Jesus already understood what precious love is, and it has nothing to do with a stone, unless you are referring to the precious cornerstone, Isaiah 28:16.

Here is Rosemary Siemens singing Precious Lord, Take my Hand.  When you are at the end of your tether, our Precious Lord can take us by the hand, and lead us home.

And if you were wondering, I would probably not have gotten any of the questions right on this one, unless it was a wild guess.  Just think of the mess if I had not given the answers that were available!  Yikes!

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.