Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  4000 Creation  »  4400 Vegetation and food  »  4482 millstones

Pairs of upper and lower millstones were used for grinding grain in the ancient East. Millstones were common features of the daily life of ordinary people.

Millstones as a means of earning a living

Deuteronomy 24:6 See also Isaiah 47:1-2; Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22

Millstones were heavy and burdensome

Matthew 18:6 pp Mark 9:42 pp Luke 17:2

Millstones as potential weapons

Judges 9:50-53 See also 2 Samuel 11:21

Millstones in figurative use

Job 41:24

Millstones as symbols of destructive force

Revelation 18:21

See also

4456  grain
4462  grinding
5295  destruction