Hebrew word · H1324

בַּת

bat

bath

The standard liquid measure, equal to the dry ephah and one-tenth of a kor (Ezekiel 45:11). Most estimates put it at about 21–23 liters. A higher estimate of about 40 liters has also been proposed.

Appears 13 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

bath, a unit of liquid measure, equal to dry measure ephah (about 9 imperial gallons or 40 litres, rabbinical writings give sizes of one-half this amount)

Aramaic equivalent: bat (בַּת "bath" H1325)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Chronicles 2:10

Range of meaning

The standard liquid measure, equal to the dry ephah and one-tenth of a kor (Ezekiel 45:11). Most estimates put it at about 21–23 liters. A higher estimate of about 40 liters has also been proposed. Storage jars inscribed 'bt' and 'bt lmlk' ('royal bath') have been found at Lachish and Tell Beit Mirsim.

Against the English

Most versions transliterate it as 'baths'. KJV keeps 'baths' for the liquids but uses 'measures' for the grain. NLT converts it to gallons.

How it drifted

The English spelling 'bath' looks like the ordinary English word, but it is simply the Hebrew word written in English letters.

Used elsewhere in the period

Inscribed jars from the Iron Age (Lachish, Tell Beit Mirsim). Ezekiel 45:10–14. Josephus (Antiquities 8.57) equates the bath with a Greek measure of about 72 pints, though his figures are not always reliable.

Where it appears

1 Kings · 2

  1. 1 Kings 7:26 בַּ֖ת bath[s]

    It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.

  2. 1 Kings 7:38 בַּ֜ת bath[s]

    He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

2 Chronicles · 3

  1. 2 Chronicles 2:10 בַּתִּים֙ בַּתִּ֖ים baths

    I will pay your servants, the woodcutters, 20,000 cors of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”

    Here: 'Baths': a liquid measure of about 22 liters (estimates vary), one-tenth of a kor (Ezekiel 45:11, 14). It has nothing to do with bathing.

  2. 2 Chronicles 4:5 בַּתִּ֔ים baths

    It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold three thousand baths.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 5:10 בַּ֣ת a bath

    For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”

Ezekiel · 7

  1. Ezekiel 45:10 וּבַת־ and a bath of

    You must use honest scales, a just ephah, and a just bath.

  2. Ezekiel 45:11 וְהַבַּ֗ת הַבָּ֑ת and the bath, the bath

    The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure for both.

  3. Ezekiel 45:14 הַבַּ֣ת הַבַּת֙ הַבַּתִּ֖ים הַבַּתִּ֖ים the bath, the baths

    The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (a cor consists of ten baths or one homer, since ten baths are equivalent to a homer).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.