Hebrew word · H3563

כּוֹס

kos

cup

Kos is a drinking cup and, by extension, one's 'portion', what is handed to a person to drink: blessing (Ps 16:5; 116:13) or judgment (Ps 11:6; 75:8; Jer 25:15). Revayah, from ravah 'to drink one's fill, be drenched', means saturation or full satisfaction.

Appears 34 times in 29 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

cup

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 Psalm 23:5

Range of meaning

Kos is a drinking cup and, by extension, one's 'portion', what is handed to a person to drink: blessing (Ps 16:5; 116:13) or judgment (Ps 11:6; 75:8; Jer 25:15). Revayah, from ravah 'to drink one's fill, be drenched', means saturation or full satisfaction. It appears elsewhere only in Ps 66:12, a textually difficult verse.

Against the English

'Overflows' / 'runneth over' pictures liquid spilling over the brim. The Hebrew is a noun of fullness, not a spilling verb: 'my cup is saturation', i.e. full enough to quench thirst completely. YLT's 'My cup is full!' is closest. The difference is small; both convey more than enough.

Used elsewhere in the period

The related verb ravah describes ground soaked by rain (Isa 55:10) and people satisfied with drink (Jer 31:14, 25). The Septuagint reads 'your cup, intoxicating like the finest', and the Vulgate (Gallican Psalter) 'my cup, intoxicating, how splendid it is!', both taking the fullness as festive wine.

From the study of Psalm 16:5

Range of meaning

A drinking cup, and figuratively the 'cup' someone is given to drink, meaning their allotted experience or destiny. It can be blessing (Ps 23:5 'my cup overflows'; Ps 116:13 'the cup of salvation') or judgment (Ps 11:6; 75:8; Jer 25:15–28, the cup of the wine of wrath; Hab 2:16; Isa 51:17).

Against the English

English 'cup' is literal and neutral. Modern readers often add 'blessing' (NLT 'my cup of blessing') or think of the Lord's Supper. In the Psalms the cup is the share poured out for you by a host or a judge, and it is not automatically pleasant.

How it drifted

Familiarity with Psalm 23's 'my cup overflows' and with Christian communion language makes 'cup' sound only like abundance or sacrament, when in Hebrew it is a word for one's apportioned lot.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 11:6 (exact phrase 'portion of their cup'); Ps 23:5; 75:8; 116:13; Jer 25:15; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:31–33. The same idiom lies behind Jesus' 'this cup' in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36) and 'the cup that I drink' (Mark 10:38).

From the study of Isaiah 51:17

Range of meaning

Kôs is an ordinary cup, but it was also used for 'one's portion' or allotted lot (Ps 16:5; 23:5; 11:6). Ḥēmâ comes from the root for 'be hot.' It means heat, burning anger or rage, and also venom or poison (Deut 32:24, 33; Ps 58:4; 140:3).

Against the English

'Fury' (BSB, KJV, YLT) and 'wrath' (WEB, ESV) catch the intensity. No English word also carries the 'poison' sense of ḥēmâ, so in Hebrew 'a cup of ḥēmâ' can suggest both heated anger and a toxic drink.

Used elsewhere in the period

The cup of God's wrath is a set image in the prophets and psalms. In Jer 25:15–29 Jeremiah is told to take 'this cup of the wine of wrath (ḥēmâ)' and make the nations drink until they stagger and vomit. It also appears in Ezek 23:31–34 (Oholibah's cup, which she drinks and 'drains'), Hab 2:16, Lam 4:21, Ps 75:8, and Ps 60:3 ('wine of staggering'). The New Testament takes it up in Rev 14:10 and 16:19, 'the cup of the wine of his wrath.'

Where it appears

Genesis · 5
  1. Genesis 40:11 וְכ֥וֹס כּ֣וֹס הַכּ֖וֹס and [the] cup of, [the] cup of, the cup

    Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand.”

  2. Genesis 40:13 כוֹס־ [the] cup of

    Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer.

  3. Genesis 40:21 הַכּ֖וֹס the cup

    Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

Leviticus · 1
  1. Leviticus 11:17 הַכּ֥וֹס the little owl

    the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,

    Here: A bird name spelled exactly like the common word for "cup" (Strong's lists them as separate words). Psalm 102:6 speaks of "a kos of the ruins," so it was a bird known for living in desolate places. That fits the little owl, which nests in ruins, but the exact species cannot be proven.

Deuteronomy · 1
  1. Deuteronomy 14:16 הַכּ֥וֹס the little owl

    the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

2 Samuel · 1
  1. 2 Samuel 12:3 וּמִכֹּס֤וֹ and from cup his

    but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him.

1 Kings · 1
  1. 1 Kings 7:26 כּ֖וֹס a cup

    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 Chronicles · 1
  1. 2 Chronicles 4:5 כּ֔וֹס a cup

    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.

Psalms · 6
  1. Psalm 11:6 כּוֹסָֽם׃ cup their

    On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

    Here: 'Their cup' is the drink a host pours out for each guest. Here it stands for each person's assigned fate. For the wicked, the cup holds fire, sulfur and scorching wind, the cup of God's wrath that other prophets and psalms describe.

  2. Psalm 16:5 וְכוֹסִ֑י and cup my

    The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.

    Here: 'And my cup.' In psalm language 'cup' is what is handed to a person to drink, so it means their allotted lot or destiny, whether good (Ps 23:5; 116:13) or bad (Ps 11:6). It probably also contrasts with the bloody libations to other gods that the speaker refused in verse 4.

  3. Psalm 23:5 כּוֹסִ֥י cup my

    You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

    Here: 'My cup': the guest's drinking cup at the meal. In the Psalms 'cup' also means one's allotted portion in life (Ps 16:5; 116:13), so the literal cup also stands for the speaker's lot, given by God.

  4. Psalm 75:8 כ֪וֹס a cup

    For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.

    Here: A drinking cup. In Hebrew poetry it is also a picture for the portion someone is given to drink, and so their lot. Here it is the well-known 'cup of wrath'.

  5. Psalm 102:6 כְּכ֣וֹס like an owl of

    I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

  6. Psalm 116:13 כּוֹס־ a cup of

    I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

    Here: An ordinary drinking or libation cup, here held up in worship. It comes first in the Hebrew for emphasis: 'a cup of rescues — that is what I will lift.'

Proverbs · 1
  1. Proverbs 23:31 בַּכּ֣וֹס in the cup

    Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

Isaiah · 4
  1. Isaiah 51:17 כּ֣וֹס כּ֧וֹס [the] cup of

    Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.

    Here: An ordinary drinking cup that became a stock image for an allotted fate. Here it is the measured portion of judgment that God pours out for someone to drink.

  2. Isaiah 51:22 כּ֣וֹס כּ֣וֹס [the] cup of

    Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again.

    Here: An ordinary drinking cup. In the prophets it is also a standard image for the portion of fate or judgment a ruler hands someone to drink.

Jeremiah · 7
  1. Jeremiah 16:7 כּ֣וֹס a cup of

    No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother.

  2. Jeremiah 25:15 כּ֨וֹס [the] cup of

    This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

    Here: A drinking cup. In Israel's poetry it was also a picture of the portion or lot someone is given to 'drink', whether good or bad.

  3. Jeremiah 25:17 הַכּ֖וֹס the cup

    So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me,

  4. Jeremiah 25:28 הַכּ֥וֹס the cup

    If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it!

  5. Jeremiah 35:5 וְכֹס֑וֹת and cups

    Then I set pitchers full of wine and some cups before the men of the house of the Rechabites, and I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

  6. Jeremiah 49:12 הַכּוֹס֙ the cup

    For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too.

  7. Jeremiah 51:7 כּוֹס־ [was] a cup of

    Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.

    Here: A drinking cup, put first in the sentence for emphasis: before Babylon is even named, the hearer sees a cup. To anyone who knew Jeremiah 25, this is the cup of God's wrath that the nations are made to drink.

Lamentations · 1
  1. Lamentations 4:21 כּ֔וֹס a cup

    So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

    Here: In the prophets this is a fixed image: the cup of YHWH's wrath. God hands it to a nation, and drinking it means staggering under his judgment (Jeremiah 25:15–29; 49:12). No adjective is needed; the first hearers knew which cup was meant.

Ezekiel · 4
  1. Ezekiel 23:31 כוֹסָ֖הּ cup her

    Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’

  2. Ezekiel 23:32 כּ֤וֹס [the] cup of

    This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

  3. Ezekiel 23:33 כּ֚וֹס כּ֖וֹס [is] a cup of, [the] cup of

    You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

Habakkuk · 1
  1. Habakkuk 2:16 כּ֚וֹס [the] cup of

    You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory.

    Here: The drinking cup. In the prophets it is a stock image for the portion of judgment God makes a nation drink (Jer 25; Isa 51).

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