Esther 1:6

there were hangings of whitecloth, of green, andof blue marg. finecloth, white(or cotton) and blue. The word translated -green" in the text is best rendered cotton, and is of Persian origin. [58] The cords, which by means of silver rings attached the hangings to the pillars, furnished a contrast of colour, viz. fine, white linen, mixed with a reddish purple.

[58] Karpasborrowed by the Greek in the form κάρπασος (Lat. carbasus).

pillars of marble The remains of the pillars found at Susa are of a dark blue limestone, which the Heb. word may very well denote.

the couches were of gold and silver i.e. with coverlets of gold and silver work, or possibly with a framework of these materials (so the Targum explains), like those which Herod. (ix. 82) tells us that Xerxes brought with him on his expedition against Greece.

of red, and white, and yellow, and black marble marg. or, of porphyry, and white marble, and alabaster, and stone of blue colour. For the -white and yellow" of R.V. A.V. had -blue and white." A mosaic pavement of various costly materials is apparently meant, but the precise meaning of the terms used is uncertain. Perhaps we may take it that each is the name of a material, not a colour, and render porphyry(or alabaster), marble, pearl-stone, and dark paving-stone. We should observe, however, that the second of these is the same word as that used in the description of the pillars (see note), and that the last may mean marble with dark spots or streaks. The LXX. adds that there were crystal couches scattered over with roses.