gold: the precious metal, most often as it has already been refined, shaped, or coined
This is one of two New Testament words for gold. The other, χρυσός, is the plainer term for the metal and for treasure in general, while the word here tends to name gold that has already passed through someone's hands: refined in a furnace, hammered over a surface, shaped into jewelry, or struck into coin. The difference is a leaning rather than a rule, and in many sentences the two words are interchangeable.
That leaning shows in where it turns up:
- as the metal itself, sheathing the ark of the covenant and paving the street of the new Jerusalem
- as ornament, worn in braided hair or over a dress, and glittering on the woman called Babylon
- as money, the coin Peter tells a beggar he does not have and the wealth Paul says he never wanted
Gold works across these books as the standard of what people count valuable, which is why it keeps showing up in comparisons. Faith that survives testing is said to be worth more than gold that survives the fire, and the risen Christ tells a rich but self-satisfied church to buy from him gold refined by fire, meaning the only wealth that will hold up. Still, the metal measures worth and not goodness: the same gold gleams on the ark of the covenant and on the finery of a city under judgment.