Hebrew word · H4730

מִקְטֶ֫רֶת

mikteret

censer

From the root q-ṭ-r, "to make smoke, burn incense." A miqteret is a vessel for burning incense, held in the hand. The word appears only here and in 2 Chronicles 26:19. The priestly texts usually call the incense pan maḥtah ("fire pan," Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 16:6, 17).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

censer

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 Ezekiel 8:11

Range of meaning

From the root q-ṭ-r, "to make smoke, burn incense." A miqteret is a vessel for burning incense, held in the hand. The word appears only here and in 2 Chronicles 26:19. The priestly texts usually call the incense pan maḥtah ("fire pan," Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 16:6, 17).

Against the English

"Censer" is correct, but many readers picture the chained, swinging thurible used in church liturgy. Ancient hand-censers in the region were usually pans, shovels or ladle-shaped burners held directly in the hand.

How it drifted

The English word "censer" took its familiar image from medieval Christian liturgy.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 10:1 (Nadab and Abihu, "each his fire pan") and Numbers 16:17–18 (Korah's 250 men, "each his fire pan") use the same "each man his ___" construction. 2 Chronicles 26:16–21 has King Uzziah with "a censer in his hand" (the same words as here) when he is struck with skin disease. In Israel's priestly law, burning incense belonged to the Aaronic priests alone (Numbers 16:40; 2 Chronicles 26:18). Jeremiah repeatedly condemns Judeans for burning incense to other gods (Jeremiah 7:9; 11:12–13; 44:15–19).

Where it appears

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 26:19 מִקְטֶ֖רֶת a censer

    Uzziah, with a censer in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But while he raged against the priests in their presence in the house of the LORD before the altar of incense, leprosy broke out on his forehead.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 8:11 מִקְטַרְתּ֖וֹ censer his

    Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

    Here: A hand-held incense burner. The word is rare: elsewhere it appears only for King Uzziah, who was struck with skin disease for offering incense, a duty reserved for priests (2 Chronicles 26:19).

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