Cistern. A vessel to hold water; also reservoirs. During nearly half the year no rain falls in Palestine, and never-failing streams and springs are rare. The chief dependence of a large portion of the population was upon the water which fell in the rainy season and which they gathered in cisterns. Isaiah 36:16; Jeremiah 2:13. The water is conducted into them during the rainy season, and with proper care remains pure and sweet during the whole summer and autumn. When dry, they might be used as a prison, Genesis 37:22; Jeremiah 38:6; the "pit" was doubtless a cistern, or a granary, as at this day; and to drink water only from one's own domestic cistern means, to content one's self with the lawful enjoyments of his own home. Proverbs 5:15.
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