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CUP.—1. In OT the rendering of various words, the precise distinction between which, either as to form or use, is unknown to us. The usual word is kôs, the ordinary drinking-vessel of rich (Gen_40:11; Gen_40:13; Gen_40:21) and poor (2Sa_12:3) alike, the material of which varied, no doubt, with the rank and wealth of the owner. Joseph’s divining cup (gâbhîa’, Gen_44:2 ff.) was of silver, and, we may infer, of elaborate workmanship, since the same word is used for the bowls (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) or cups (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), i.e. the flower-shaped ornamentation, on the candlestick of the Tabernacle. That the gâbhîa’ was larger than the kôs is clear from Jer_35:5. The kĕâvôth of 1Ch_28:17 were more probably flagons, as RV [Note: Revised Version.] in Exo_25:29; Exo_37:16 (but Num_4:7 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘cups’). The ’aggân (Isa_22:24) was rather a basin, as Exo_24:6, than a cup (EV [Note: English Version.] ).
In NT potçrion is the corresponding name of the ordinary drinking-cup (water Mat_10:42 etc., wine Mat_23:25 etc.). The ‘cup of blessing’ (1Co_10:16) is so named from the kôs habberâkhah of the Jewish Passover (wh. see, also Eucharist).
2. The word ‘cup’ has received an extended figurative application in both OT and NT. (a) As in various other literatures, ‘cup’ stands, esp. in Psalms, for the happy fortune or experience of one’s earthly lot, mankind being thought of as receiving this lot from the hand of God, as the guest receives the wine-cup from the hand of his host (Psa_16:5; Psa_23:5; Psa_73:10 etc.). But also, conversely, for the bitter lot of the wicked, Psa_11:6 (cf (c) below), and in particular for the sufferings of Jesus Christ, Mat_20:22-23, Mar_10:38-39; Mar_14:36, Luk_22:42, Joh_18:11. (b) Another figure is the ‘cup of salvation’ (lit. ‘of deliverances’), Psa_116:13. The reference is to the wine of the thank-offerings, part of the ritual of which was the festal meal before J″ [Note: Jahweh.] (cf. vv. Psa_116:14 a, Psa_116:17 ff.). (c) By a still bolder figure the punitive wrath of the offended Deity is spoken of as a cup which the guilty, Israelites and heathen alike, must drain to the dregs. So Jer_25:15 ff. (the wine-cup [of] fury), Eze_23:32-34, Isa_51:17 ff. (‘the cup of trembling,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘staggering’), Zec_12:2 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘cup of reeling’), Psa_75:8, Rev_14:10; Rev_16:19; Rev_18:6, for all which see the commentaries. (d) Lastly, we have ‘the cup of consolation’ offered to the mourners after the funeral-rites, Jer_16:7 (cf. Pro_31:6).