The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it [shall not be for] jewels of fine gold.
Ver. 17. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it] For crystal some read diamond, others adamant. It hath its name from its purity and transparency. Junius rendereth it therefore nitidissima gemma. It seems to be, saith one, the last attempt of nature, and makes us find heaven on earth.
And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels (or vessels) of fine gold] Of phez gold, so Broughton renders it, Vas auri puri puti, and would have it come from Fesse, in Barbary. The Arabians now call gold phes. Of this solid fast gold were made many precious jewels or vessels, like that French coin in the historian, in qua plus formae quam ponderis, in which was not so much weight as workmanship: Proverbs 25:11, "Apples of gold in lattices of silver"; or put in a case of silver cut work.