page_title: Gemstones in the Bible
section_title: Jasper
hierarchical_section_title: Gemstones in the Bible / Alphabetical list / Jasper
caption_attribution_description: Jasper from Cave Creek, Arizona, USA. (4.2 cm across at its widest) A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are about 5400 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates. The silicates are the most abundant and chemically complex group of minerals. All silicates have silica as the basis for their chemistry. &quot;Silica&quot; refers to SiO2 chemistry. The fundamental molecular unit of silica is one small silicon atom surrounded by four large oxygen atoms in the shape of a triangular pyramid - this is the silica tetrahedron - SiO4. Each oxygen atom is shared by two silicon atoms, so only half of the four oxygens &quot;belong&quot; to each silicon. The resulting formula for silica is thus SiO2, not SiO4. The simplest &amp; most abundant silicate mineral in the Earth's crust is quartz (SiO2). All other silicates have silica + impurities. Many silicates have a significant percentage of aluminum (the aluminosilicates). Quartz (silicon dioxide/silica - SiO2) is the most common mineral in the Earth's crust. It is composed of the two most abundant elements in the crust - oxygen and silicon. It has a glassy, nonmetallic luster, is commonly clearish to whitish to grayish in color, has a white streak, is quite hard (H≡7), forms hexagonal crystals, has no cleavage, and has conchoidal fracture. Quartz can be any color: clear, white, gray, black, brown, pink, red, purple, blue, green, orange, etc. Jasper is an intensely red, microcrystalline to cryptocrystalline “variety” of quartz. The red is from hematite (Fe2O3). Jasper is really not a variety of quartz - it's a variety of chert, a sedimentary rock composed of very finely-crystalline quartz. Photo gallery of quartz and &quot;jasper&quot;: &lt;a href="http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3337" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3337&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2082" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2082&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: A range of gemstones are mentioned in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation. Much has been written about the precise identification of these stones, which is largely speculative.
context_section_description: Jasper Heb.  יָשְׁפֵ֑ה yashpeh; Sept. iaspis; Vulg. jaspis; the twelfth stone of the breastplate (Ex., xxviii, 18; xxxix, 11), representing Benjamin. In the Greek and Latin texts it comes sixth, and so also in Ezech., xxviii, 13; in the Apocalypse it is the first (xxi, 19). Despite this difference of position jaspis is undoubtedly the yshphh of the Hebrew text. The gem is an anhydrate quartz composed of silica, alumina, and iron and there are jaspers of nearly every colour. It is a completely opaque stone of a conchoidal cleavage. It seems to have been obtained by the Jews from India and Egypt.
caption: Red jasper rough
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