Hebrew word · H3734

כֹּר

kor

kor

The largest dry (and sometimes liquid) measure in Israel, equal to the ḥōmer (a 'donkey-load'), and ten ephahs or ten baths (Ezekiel 45:14).

Appears 9 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) kor, a measure (usually dry)

1a) a dry or liquid measure equal to 10 ephahs or baths

1a1) a dry measure containing 6.25 bushels (220 l)

1a2) a liquid measure of 58 gallons (263 l)

Aramaic equivalent: kor (כּוֹר "kor" H3734B)

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 largest dry (and sometimes liquid) measure in Israel, equal to the ḥōmer (a 'donkey-load'), and ten ephahs or ten baths (Ezekiel 45:14). Modern estimates of its volume run from about 220 liters to about 400 liters, because ancient measures were not standardized and the archaeological evidence is thin.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB transliterate it as 'cor' or 'kor'. KJV has the vague 'measures'. NLT converts it into bushels, which is easier to picture but presents a disputed figure as exact.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is related to Akkadian kurru, a standard Mesopotamian grain measure, so the term belonged to the wider ancient Near Eastern system of trade and rations. In the Bible it appears in 1 Kings 4:22 and 5:11 for Solomon's royal provisions, and in Ezekiel 45:14.

Where it appears

1 Kings · 4

  1. 1 Kings 4:22 כֹּר֙ כֹּ֖ר cor[s] of

    Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

  2. 1 Kings 5:11 כֹּ֤ר כֹּ֖ר cor[s] of

    and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.

2 Chronicles · 3

  1. 2 Chronicles 2:10 כֹּרִים֙ כֹּרִ֖ים cors

    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: 'Kors': the largest dry measure, about a donkey-load or more, very roughly 220 liters (estimates vary).

  2. 2 Chronicles 27:5 כֹּרִים֙ cors

    Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them, and that year they gave him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years.

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 7:22 כֹּרִ֣ין cors

    up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 45:14 הַכֹּ֔ר the cor

    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.