It is difficult to be precise about the exact shades of colors in the ANE. Terminology changed from language to language and period to period. In Exod. 25:4, several special colors are mentioned to decorate the tabernacle and High Priest’s clothing.
1. “blue” – BDB 1067, KB 1732-3, denotes a blue, violet, or purple color. This color comes from mollusks and was developed by the Phoenicians.
2. “purple” – BDB 71, KB 84, denotes a reddish purple. It is possibly from an Akkadian root.
3. “scarlet” – BDB 1040, KB 1603, the etymology and color are uncertain, possibly crimson. The root seems to mean “dyed,” “plunged” from a certain insect (IDB, p. 233), possibly also from Phoenicia
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