Coral

(Ezekiel 27:16) A production of the sea, formed by minute animals called zoophytes. It is their shell or house. It takes various forms, as of trees, shrubs, hemispheres. The principal colors are red and white. It was used for beads and ornaments. With regard to the estimation in which coral was held by the Jews and other Orientals, it must be remembered that coral varies in price with us. Pliny says that the Indians valued coral as the Romans valued pearls. (Job 28:18)

Coral

A hard calcareous, marine production, produced by the labors of millions of insects, and often resembling in figure the stem of a plant, divided into branches. It is of various colors, black, white, and red. The latter is the most valuable. It is ranked by Job 28:18, and Ezekiel 27:16, among precious stones. It abounds in the Red sea; and the islands of the South seas are often coral reefs, covered over with earth. The word "rubies" in Proverbs 3:15; 8:11; 20:15; 31:10, is thought by many to mean ornaments of coral.

CORAL

kor'-al (ra'moth, peninim): The red coral or precious coral, Corallium rubrum, is confined to the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. It is the calcareous axis of a branching colony of polyps. It does not form reefs, but occurs in small masses from 40 to 100 fathoms below the surface. It differs totally in structure from the white corals which form coral reefs, belonging to the order of Octactinia or Eight-rayed Polyps, while the reef-building corals belong to the Hexactinia or Six-rayed Polyps.

Ra'moth, apparently from r. ra'am, "to be high" (compare rum, "to be high"), occurs in three passages. In Proverbs 24:7, EVV have "too high": "Wisdom is too high for a fool." In Job 28:12-19, where various precious things are compared with wisdom, English Versions of the Bible has "coral"(King James Version, margin "Ramoth"). It is mentioned here along with ceghor, "gold" (the Revised Version, margin "treasure"); kethem, "gold of Ophir"; shoham, "onyx" (the Revised Version, margin "beryl"); cappir, "sapphire"; zahabh, "gold"; zekhukhith, "crystal" (the Revised Version (British and American) "glass"); paz, "gold"; gabhish, "pearls" (the Revised Version (British and American) "crystal"); peninim, "rubies" (the Revised Version, margin "red coral" or "pearls"); piTedhah, "topaz." While the real meaning of some of these terms is doubtful (see STONES, PRECIOUS), they all, including ra'moth, appear to be precious stones or metals. In Ezekiel 27:16, ra'moth occurs with nophekh, "emeralds" (the Revised Version, margin "carbuncles"); 'argaman, "purple"; riqmah, "broidered work"; buts, "fine linen"; kadhkodh, "agate"(King James Version, margin "chrysoprase," the Revised Version (British and American) "rubies"). Here the context does not require a precious stone or metal, and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has sericum, i. e. "Chinese material" or "silk." Notwithstanding, therefore, the traditional rendering, "coral," the real meaning of ra'moth must be admitted to be doubtful.

Peninim (from the root panan, "to divide up," "to separate"; compare Arabic fanan, "a branch of a tree") occurs in Job 28:18 Proverbs 3:15; Proverbs 8:11; Proverbs 20:15; Proverbs 31:10 Lamentations 4:7. In all these passages English Versions of the Bible has "rubies" (Job 28:18, the Revised Version, margin "red coral" or "pearls"; Lamentations 4:7, the Revised Version, margin "corals"). Everywhere a precious substance is indicated, but nowhere does the context give any light as to the nature of the substance, except in Lamentations 4:7, where we have the statement that the nobles of Jerusalem "were more ruddy in body" than peninim. This and the etymology favor a branching red substance such as precious coral. The occurrence of peninim and ra'moth together in Job 28:18 is, if we give the precedence to peninim, a further argument against ra'moth meaning "coral."

Alfred Ely Day

Hebrews ramoth, meaning "heights;" i.e., "high-priced" or valuable things, or, as some suppose, "that which grows high," like a tree (Job 28:18; Ezek. 27:16), according to the Rabbins, red coral, which was in use for ornaments.

The coral is a cretaceous marine product, the deposit by minute polypous animals of calcareous matter in cells in which the animal lives. It is of numberless shapes as it grows, but usually is branched like a tree. Great coral reefs and coral islands abound in the Red Sea, whence probably the Hebrews derived their knowledge of it. It is found of different colours, white, black, and red. The red, being esteemed the most precious, was used, as noticed above, for ornamental purposes.

1. (n.) The hard parts or skeleton of various Anthozoa, and of a few Hydrozoa. Similar structures are also formed by some Bryozoa.

2. (n.) The ovaries of a cooked lobster; -- so called from their color.

3. (n.) A piece of coral, usually fitted with small bells and other appurtenances, used by children as a plaything.

7215. ramoth -- perhaps corals
... << 7214, 7215. ramoth. 7216 >>. perhaps corals. Transliteration: ramoth Phonetic
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