Beaten Gold

BEATEN GOLD is the standard tr. of the Heb. phrase זָהָ֣ב שָׁח֑וּט, consisting of the common noun for gold, zaḥaḇ and the Qal passive participle of the verb shaḥaṭ meaning in this instance “to be alloyed,” “to be mixed.” The phrase appears in descriptions of ornamental and military hardware in 1 Kings 10:16, 17 and 2 Chronicles 9:15, 16. The phrase is semantically equivalent to similar ones in Akkad. and Ugaritic. Native gold as mined in the ancient world contained many impurities thus forming natural alloys of gold with silver, copper, iron, tellurium, bismuth, antimony, mercury and even platinum. All ancient languages distinguish many types and qualities of gold.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

See GOLD (BEATEN).