BOWL. A hollow vessel for daily and ceremonial use, having a great variety of shapes and sizes. It is the most common ceramic form found in Near Eastern excavations, and dates from the earliest Neolithic manufacture. Doubtless gourds and wooden bowls preceded the ceramic types, and continued in use, but are not preserved for archeology. A variety of stones, as steatite, limestone, alabaster, and basalt, were shaped, ground and polished into bowls. Metals as iron, bronze, silver and gold, were widely used in the making of bowls, the latter for ceremonial and treasury purposes.

In general, there are ten words for bowls in the OT (including cups, which were often of the shape we would today call bowls):

1. אַגָּן, H110, a large banquet bowl or basin, also frequently called κρατήρ. It was used to hold that part of the blood which Moses sprinkled on the people at the reading of the Covenant (Exod 24:6). It was seen as a heavy vessel which could be hung from a peg, although it might pull it out, fall and break (Isa 22:24, 25). The earlier bowls (Iron I) had two handles, and were hand-burnished, while those of a later period (Iron II) had four handles, with ring-burnishing.

2. כִּיּﯴר, H3963, a pottery bowl for carrying burning charcoal for starting fires (Zech 12:6). It might also refer to a laver (Exod 30:18; 1 Kings 7:38); or to a cooking pot (1 Sam 2:14).

3. כּﯴס֒, H3926, in this case, a general term referring to both the cup (with a spherical profile), and a broad, shallow wine bowl (cf. 2 Sam 12:3; 1 Kings 7:26; Ezek 23:32).

4. מִשְׁאֶ֫רֶת, H5400, both wooden and ceramic ware may be referred to by this term. A broad, shallow, medium-sized vessel with no handles. Frequently designates a kneading trough or bread bowl (cf. Exod 8:3; 12:34; Deut 28:5, 17).

5. מִזְרָק, H4670, a large banquet bowl (Amos 6:6), practically synonomous with ’aggān (’^agarṭāl= the postexilic synonym for mizrāq. Cf. Ezra 1:9; Neh 7:70-72).

6. קֻבַּ֫עַת, H7694, a small bowl for serving relatively large portions of wine to the individual, thus contributing to drunkenness (Isa 51:17, 22).

7. סַפ֒, H6195, a small bowl, ceramic or metal, for (a) sacrificial, for blood (Exod 12:22); and for (b) drinking (Zech 4:2, etc.).

8. צַלַּ֫חַת, H7505. This is a medium sized bowl, similar but smaller than the ’aggān and sēfel, with no handles. Cf. 2 Kings 21:13.

9. סֵ֫פֶל, H6210, the large banquet bowl of ceramic ware, an expensive type (cf. Judg 5:25). Also used in the account of Gideon’s fleece (Judg 6:38).

10. צְלֹחִית, H7504, an Iron II bowl, small or medium small. Elisha asked for this kind with salt to be cast into the spring (2 Kings 2:20; cf. Ezek 43:24).

Several additional terms appear, generally referring to one of these ten kinds of bowls. The modification of the basic bowl form may be seen in the cup, the lamp, and the cooking pot.

Bibliography J. Kelso, “The Ceramic Vocabulary of the Old Testament,” BASOR, Supplementary Studies Nos. 5-6 (1948), 1-48; H. Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (1963), Plates 141-143; A. Honeyman, “The Pottery Vessels of the Old Testament,” PEQ (April, 1939), 76-90; J. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East in Pictures (1954), 41, 46.