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POOL (בְּרֵכָה, H1391, a pond of water).


The conservation of water was crucial to the people of Pal. Rainfall in Jerusalem averages about twenty-five inches, and it falls between fifty and sixty days per year. Natural terrain was utilized to store water where possible, and where nature was not so obliging, toiling hands carved out a substitute. If the sources of water happened to be outside the walls of the city, the people often would construct tunnels to bring in the precious commodity so that it would be available in time of siege. Hezekiah’s tunnel is an instance of this (2 Kings 20:20), and similar arrangements have been uncovered at Gezer and Megiddo. Because of the cruciality of water, disputes often broke out in the vicinity of its sources (Gen 26:15-22). Moses, it will be remembered, assisted the oppressed daughters of the priest of Midian to secure water for their animals (Exod 2:16ff.). It is quite possible that of the various pools mentioned in the Bible some can be identified.

Pools of Solomon.

There are three pools located in the valley of Etham, just S of Bethlehem and ten m. from Jerusalem, that are designated in this manner. Even today they are an important part of the water supply for Jerusalem. The pools are fed by springs and surface water and a twisting aqueduct, at least as early as Rom. times, conveyed the water ultimately to Jerusalem and to Bethlehem en route. Lacking pumping facilities, the ancients had to plan and engineer with skill to take full advantage of the gravity. The pools were hewn out of rock and in part artificially constructed with masonry. They have been repaired many times through the years. The pools are arranged at successive levels with conduit connections between them. The E wall of the lowest pool forms a dam across the valley. The pools were roughly rectangular in shape and varied in depth from about twenty-five ft. in the upper pool to fifty ft. in the lower pool. The lower pool is the largest, being about 582 ft. long with a width varying from 148 ft. to 207 ft. The water arriving in Jerusalem was run into a huge cistern under the Temple area called the “Great Sea.”


W. Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible, II, 904; J. Orr (ed.) ISBE, IV (1939), 657-660.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)


Use of Terms

1. General

2. Wells or Cylindrical Cisterns

3. Private Cisterns

4. Public Cisterns

5. Pools and Aqueducts

6. Figurative Uses



Use of Terms:

"Cistern," bo’r (Jer 2:13, etc.), or bor (2Ki 18:31). The latter word is frequently in the King James Version translated "well." the Revised Version (British and American) in these cases changes to "cistern" in text (De 6:11; 2Ch 26:10; Ne 9:25) margin (Jer 14:3), rendered "pit" in the King James Version are changed to "cistern" the Revised Version (British and American) (the latter in the American Standard Revised Version only).

1. General:


2. Wells or Cylindrical Cisterns:


3. Private Cisterns:


4. Public Cisterns:


5. Pools and Aqueducts:


Herod embellished the upper pool, lining it with stone and building arches around its four sides (see Palestine Exploration Fund, Excavations at Jerusalem, 154 ff), and the pool was most likely in this condition in the time of Christ (Joh 9:6,7). There are numerous other pools, cisterns and aqueducts in and around Jerusalem, which provide abundant evidence of the continual struggle after water, made by its occupants of all times (see G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, chapter v, volume I).

See also PIT; WELL, etc.

6. Figurative Uses:

Good wives are described as cisterns (Pr 5:15 ff). "The left ventricle of the heart, which retains the blood till it be redispersed through the body, is called a cistern" (Ec 12:6). Idols, armies and material objects in which Israel trusted were "broken cisterns" (Jer 2:13, see above) "soon emptied of all the aid and comfort which they possess, and cannot fill themselves again."



Arch. C. Dickie

