Almanac › Weights & measures

Hin

Hebrew הִין.

A sixth of a bath — the measure the drink offerings are given in.

Volume (liquid)
3.33–4 L (3.52–4.23 qt). Defined as 1/6 of a bath. Inherits the disagreement over the ephah.

The hin is the liquid measure of the sanctuary: wine for the drink offering, oil for the grain offering, all specified in fractions of a hin. The word is Egyptian, which is part of why it sits where it does in the Pentateuch.

The liquid measures, drawn to scale Clay jars at true volume beside a 6-foot man and familiar containers: a log, 278–333 ml, beside a 12-ounce can; a hin, a sixth of a bath, 3.33–4 L, beside a gallon jug; and a bath, the same as the dry ephah, 20–24 L (5.28–6.34 gal), beside a water-cooler bottle. Behind them, in dashed outline at true size, Solomon's bronze Sea, ten cubits across and five high, which held two thousand baths (1 Kings 7:23–26). Solomon’s Sea: two thousand baths40,000–48,000 L · 10,567–12,680 gal (1 Kings 7:23–26)a 6-ft (1.8 m) mana loga twelfth of a hin278–333 ml9.39–11.27 fl ozbeside a 12-oz cana hina sixth of a bath3.33–4 L3.52–4.23 qtbeside a gallon juga baththe same as an ephah20–24 L5.28–6.34 galbeside a water-cooler bottle
The bath is the liquid twin of the ephah: the same volume, measuring oil and wine instead of grain. A hin is a sixth of it, the measure the drink offerings are given in, and a log a twelfth of a hin. Each jar holds its measure at the middle of the range. The Sea’s shape is only sketched: the text gives its breadth and height, not its profile.

Where it appears

See also

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