What is a Hin in the Bible?
Quick answer: A hin is an ancient Hebrew unit for measuring liquids such as olive oil, wine, and water. Most scholars estimate a hin held about 3.7 liters, or roughly one gallon. It was one-sixth of a bath, the larger liquid measure. The hin appears most often in the instructions for Israel's daily offerings, where a quarter of a hin of oil and a quarter of a hin of wine went with each lamb (Exodus 29:40).
At a glance
Size: about 1 gallon (3.7 liters), though estimates range from about 3 to 6.5 liters
Used for: oil, wine, and water
Larger unit: 6 hins = 1 bath
Smaller unit: 1 hin = 12 logs (a later rabbinic reckoning)
Key verses: Exodus 29:40; Exodus 30:24; Leviticus 19:36; Numbers 15:4–10; Ezekiel 4:11
How Much Is a Hin?
The Bible never defines the hin in modern terms, so its size has to be worked out from other measures. The best evidence comes from the bath. Ezekiel says the bath and the ephah were the same size (Ezekiel 45:11), and storage jars marked "bath" found at Lachish and Tell Beit Mirsim held roughly 22 liters. Later Jewish tradition counts six hins to a bath, which puts the hin at about 3.7 liters, very close to a U.S. gallon (3.8 liters).
That is the most common estimate, but not the only one. The first-century historian Josephus said a hin equaled two Athenian choes, which would make it closer to 6.5 liters. Other scholars, working from smaller jars, put it nearer 3 liters. Measures also drifted over the centuries and from region to region, much as a "pint" still differs between the United States and Britain. For everyday reading, "about a gallon" is a safe rule of thumb.
The word itself probably came into Hebrew from Egyptian, where hnw named a jar and a much smaller unit of volume.
| Unit | Relationship | Approximate modern size | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| Log | 1/12 of a hin | About 1/3 liter (1¼ cups) | Leviticus 14:10, 12, 15 |
| Hin | 1/6 of a bath | About 3.7 liters (1 gallon) | Exodus 29:40; Numbers 15:4–10 |
| Bath | 6 hins | About 22 liters (5½ to 6 gallons) | 1 Kings 7:26; Isaiah 5:10; Ezekiel 45:11 |
| Homer (or cor) | 10 baths | About 220 liters (58 gallons) | Ezekiel 45:14 |
For the bath in detail, see What Is a Bath in the Bible? Its dry-measure twin is the ephah, which shows up beside the hin in many of the same verses.
Where the Hin Appears in the Bible
The hin shows up about two dozen times in the Old Testament, almost always in worship. It never appears in the New Testament, where Greek and Roman measures had taken over.
A hin of oil: the holy anointing oil
The recipe for the sacred anointing oil calls for myrrh, cinnamon, aromatic cane, and cassia, blended with "a hin of olive oil" (Exodus 30:24). About a gallon of oil carried more than 30 pounds of spices, making a rich, thick perfume used to consecrate the tabernacle, its furniture, and the priests (Exodus 30:26–30). No one was allowed to copy it for private use (Exodus 30:32–33).
The oil for the lamps was measured differently. Exodus 27:20 asks for "pure oil of beaten olives for the light" but gives no amount in hins. See The Golden Lampstand (Menorah).
A hin of wine: drink offerings
The hin is most familiar as the measure for drink offerings. With the lamb offered every morning and every evening came grain mixed with "one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil," plus a quarter of a hin of wine poured out as a drink offering (Exodus 29:40; Numbers 28:7). The same quarter hin went with the first sheaf of the harvest (Leviticus 23:13). Larger animals called for more, as the table below shows. These offerings were burned or poured out at the altar of burnt offering.
An honest hin: fair measures
The hin also belonged to everyday trade. The Holiness Code demands fair dealing: "You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 19:36). Shortchanging a neighbor on a jar of oil was a matter of faith, not just business.
A hin of water: Ezekiel's siege rations
Ezekiel acts out the coming siege of Jerusalem by eating measured bread and drinking measured water: "And you shall drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; at fixed times you shall drink" (Ezekiel 4:11). A sixth of a hin is about two and a half cups a day, a survival ration that showed the people how scarce everything would become.
Ezekiel's restored temple
In Ezekiel's vision of a renewed temple, offerings of grain come with "a hin of oil to each ephah" (Ezekiel 45:24; 46:5, 7, 11), and the daily morning offering includes a third of a hin of oil (Ezekiel 46:14).
How Much Oil and Wine Went With Each Offering?
Numbers 15 sets the amounts. The bigger the animal, the more grain, oil, and wine came with it. Numbers 28:14 repeats the same pattern for the festival offerings.
| Animal offered | Grain | Oil mixed with the grain | Wine for the drink offering | Scripture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamb | 1/10 ephah | 1/4 hin (about 1 quart) | 1/4 hin (about 1 quart) | Numbers 15:4–5 |
| Ram | 2/10 ephah | 1/3 hin (about 5 cups) | 1/3 hin (about 5 cups) | Numbers 15:6–7 |
| Bull | 3/10 ephah | 1/2 hin (about 2 quarts) | 1/2 hin (about 2 quarts) | Numbers 15:8–10 |
The proportions say something. Every animal sacrifice came with the ordinary goods of an Israelite household: bread, oil, and wine. Worship was not only blood and fire. It also included the daily harvest of field, orchard, and vineyard, offered back to God in measured, honest amounts. Paul borrows the image of the drink offering when he describes his own life being "poured out as a libation" (Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6).
Read with care: Modern conversions for biblical measures are estimates, not exact equivalents. Ancient Israel had no national bureau of standards, and jars, regions, and centuries varied. When you read "a hin," picture something close to a gallon jug rather than a precise 3.785 liters.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is a hin in modern terms?
About one gallon, or roughly 3.7 liters. Estimates range from about 3 liters to 6.5 liters, depending on the evidence used.
How much is a hin of oil?
About a gallon of olive oil. Exodus 30:24 uses one full hin of olive oil as the base for the holy anointing oil, and the daily offerings used a quarter of a hin, about a quart.
How much is a hin of wine?
Also about a gallon. Drink offerings used a quarter hin of wine for a lamb, a third of a hin for a ram, and half a hin for a bull (Numbers 15:5–10).
What does "a hin of water" mean in Ezekiel?
In Ezekiel 4:11 the prophet drinks only a sixth of a hin of water a day, about two and a half cups, to act out the shortages of the coming siege of Jerusalem.
How does the hin relate to other biblical measures?
Six hins make a bath, and ten baths make a homer. Later Jewish tradition divides the hin into twelve logs. See Biblical Weights and Measures: Complete Guide.
Does the New Testament mention the hin?
No. By the first century Greek and Roman measures were in common use. The New Testament does use the image of the drink offering, though (Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6).
For further reading: Marvin A. Powell, "Weights and Measures," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary*, vol. 6, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 897–908.*
Keep Studying
Start here: Bible Measurements: Shekel, Talent, and Mite
Liquid and dry measures
Weights and money
Worship in the tabernacle
