Skip to content

כִּיּוֹר kiyyōr – washing-tub, cooking vessel

Semantic Fields: Utensils   Food Preparation   
Author(s): Paul Sanders
First published: 2026-06-08
Citation: Paul Sanders, כִּיּוֹר kiyyōr – washing-tub, cooking vessel,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type: noun masc.
Occurrences: 23x HB (10/10/3); 0x Sir; 1x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 24)

  • Torah: Exod 30:18, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30; Lev 8:11;
  • Nebiim: 1 Sam 2:14; 1 Kgs 7:30, 38 (4x), 40, 43; 2 Kgs 16:17; Zech 12:6;
  • Ketubim: 2 Chron 4:6, 14; 6:13;
  • Qumran: 11Q19 33:5.
  • Text doubtful: See A.1.

A.1 In 1 Kgs 7:40, הַכִּיֹּרוֹת is an erroneous reading, inspired by the forms of כִּיּוֹר in 7:30, 38, while the preferable reading is הַסִּירוֹת; see 1 Kgs 7:45 and 2 Chron 4:11; cf. BHS.

1 Root and Comparative Material

A.1 Akkadian: כִּיּוֹר is usually seen as related to Akkadian kiūru, ‘metal cauldron’, which in Akkadian is a relatively rare loanword from another language (CAD K, 476), possibly Hurrian (Noonan 2019:120-121).

2. Formal Characteristic

A.1

3. Syntagmatics

A.1

4. Ancient Versions

Septuagint (LXX)12

  • βάσις, ‘base’: 2 Chron 6:13;
  • δαλός, ‘piece of burning wood’: Zech 12:6;
  • λέβης, ‘metal cauldron’: 1 Sam 2:24 (+ μέγας, ‘large’); 1 Kgs 7:40;
  • λουτήρ, ‘washing-tub for ritual use’: Exod 30:18, 28; 31:9; 38:8; Lev 8:11; 1 Kgs 7:30; 2 Kgs 16:17; 2 Chron 4:6, 14;
  • χυτρόκαυλος, ‘a kind of pot’: 1 Kgs 7:38 (1, 2, 4), 43;
  • omission: Exod 35:16; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30; 1 Kgs 7:38 (3rd).

A.1 Most of the manuscripts of the LXX do not represent each of the four terms for cooking vessels in the MT of 1 Sam 2:14 by its own distinctive term, but mention only three cooking vessels. LXXA and some other Greek manuscripts expanded the list at the beginning, before εἰς τὸν λέβητα τὸν μέγαν, with εἰς τὸν λουτῆρα ἢ to bring the translation more into conformity with the Hebrew text (De Hoop & Sanders forthcoming). The addition was inspired by the translation of כִּיּוֹר by λουτήρ in Exodus and Leviticus, although λουτήρ, ‘washing-tub’, was an inappropriate translation in 1Sam 2:14.

Peshitta (Pesh)13

  • ܐܣܛܘܢܐ (ʾesṭōnā), ‘pillar, column’: 2 Chron 6:13;
  • ܓܡܘܪܬܐ (gmūrṯā), ‘live coal, coal’: Zech 12:6;
  • ܠܩܢܐ (laqnā), ‘platter’, ‘basin’: Exod 30:18, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30; Lev 8:11; 1 Kgs 7:38 (1, 2, 4), 40 (double transl.), 43; 2 Kgs 16:17; 2 Chron 4:6;
  • ܩܕܣܐ (qadsā), ‘cauldron’, ‘kettle’: 1 Sam 2:14; 1 Kgs 7:40 (double transl.);
  • omission: 1 Kgs 7:30, 38 (3rd); 2 Chron 4:14.

A.1

Targum (Tg)

  • אִיוֹר, erroneous for כִּיּוֹר: 1 Sam 2:14;
  • כִּיּוֹר, ‘washing-tub’, ‘cooking vessel’: Exod 30:18, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30; Lev 8:11; 1 Kgs 7:30, 38 (4x), 40, 43; 2 Kgs 16:17; 2 Chron 4:6, 14; 6:13;
  • לכוּשׁ: Zech 12:6, with no other occurrences in Tg;
  • מצבוע, ‘basin’: Exod 30:18 TgSmrA.

A.1 In the Targumim, כִּיּוֹר may be a loanword from Hebrew. It is also used in Num 5:17 (TgO,PsJ,N מֵי כִיוֹר, MT מַיִם קְדֹשִׁים) and 2 Chron 4:11 (כיורא, MT הַסִּירוֹת). In TgPsJ, TgN, and TgSmr, כִּיּוֹר is also the Aramaic rendering of the occurrences in the Torah, but in TgSmrA there is the one-time rendering מצבוע, ‘basin’ (TAl, DSA, 721), in Exod 30:18.

Vulgate (Vg)17

  • basis, ‘base’: 2 Chron 6:13;
  • caminus, ‘domestic stove or furnace’: Zech 12:6;
  • conca, ‘object shaped like a sea-shell’, ‘vessel’: 2 Chron 4:6, 14;
  • labium = labrum, ‘large basin, bowl, vat’: Exod 30:18; 31:9;
  • labrum, ‘large basin, bowl, vat’: Exod 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30 (28); Lev 8:11;
  • lebes, ‘(metal) cauldron’: 1 Sam 2:14; 1 Kgs 7:40;
  • luter (< λουτήρ), ‘washing-tub’: 1 Kgs 7:30, 38 (1, 2, 4), 43;
  • paraphrastic: Exod 30:28;
  • omission: 1 Kgs 7:38 (3rd); 2 Kgs 16:17.

A.1

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1

6. Exegesis

A.1

6.1 Textual Evidence

6.2 Pictorial Evidence and Archaeology

7 Conclusion

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

Dietrich 2010
Walter Dietrich, ‘Doch ein Text hinter den Texten? Vorläufige textkritische Einsichten eines Samuel-Kommentators’, in: Hugo & Schenker 2010:133–59.
Fernández Marcos & Busto Saiz 1989
Natalio Fernández Marcos, José Ramón Busto Saiz, El texto antioqueno de la Biblia griega, I: 1-2 Samuel (TECC 50), Madrid: Instituto de Filología, C.S.I.C.
Honeyman 1939
Alexander M. Honeyman, ‘The pottery vessels of the Old Testament’, PEQ 71:76-90.
Hugo & Schenker 2010
Philippe Hugo, Adrian Schenker (eds), Archaeology of the Books of Samuel: The Entangling of the Textual and Literary History (SVT, 132), Leiden: Brill.
Hutzli 2007
Jürg Hutzli, Die Erzählung von Hanna und Samuel: Textkritische und literarische Analyse von 1. Samuel 1–2 unter Berücksichtigung des Kontextes (ATANT, 89), Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich.
Noonan 2019
Benjamin J. Noonan, Non-Semitic Loanwords in the Hebrew Bible: A Lexicon of Language Contact (LSAWS, 14), University Park, Pennsylvania: Eisenbrauns.
Parry 2006
Donald W. Parry, ‘“How Many Vessels”? An Examination of MT 1 Sam 2:14/4QSama 1 Sam 2:16’, in: Peter W. Flint, Emanuel Tov, and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, and the Septuagint Presented to Eugene Ulrich (SVT, 101), Leiden: Brill, 84–95.
Trebolle 2010
Julio Trebolle, ‘Textual Criticism and the Composition History of Samuel: Connections between Pericopes in 1 Samuel 1–4’, in: Hugo & Schenker 2010:261–85.

Notes

  1. The translations of the Greek are based on GELS. ↩

  2. The translations of the Syriac are based on Sokoloff, SLB. ↩

  3. If possible, the translations of the Latin are based on OLD. ↩

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database