Hin

The hin is a liquid measure used in the prescriptions for sacrifice, the standards of just dealing, and the rationing of water under siege.

A Measure for Sacrificial Oil and Wine

The daily burnt-offering at the tabernacle is set out by hin: "and with the one lamb a tenth part [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink-offering" (Ex 29:40). The same fraction governs the drink-offering at the festal sheaf-offering: "the drink-offering of it will be of wine, the fourth part of a hin" (Lev 23:13).

In the regulations on individual offerings, "wine for the drink-offering, the fourth part of a hin, you will prepare with the burnt-offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb" (Num 15:5). For the daily lamb the wording is sharper: "And the drink-offering of it will be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb: in the holy place you will pour out a drink-offering of strong drink to Yahweh" (Num 28:7).

A Standard of Just Dealing

In the holiness code, the hin appears beside the ephah and the balance among the measures Israel must keep honest: "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, you⁺ will have: I am Yahweh your⁺ God, who brought you⁺ out of the land of Egypt" (Lev 19:36).

The Siege Ration in Ezekiel

Ezekiel's enacted siege uses the hin to mark out an extreme rationing of water: "And you will drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time you will drink" (Eze 4:11).