A level, circular area where people threshed grain, often located near fields and exposed to the breeze.
About Threshing Floor
The threshing floor was a level, circular area about 7.5 to 12 meters (25–40 feet) in diameter. It was usually located near the fields where the grain was grown, and if possible it was in an elevated area that was exposed to the breeze (see Winnowing fork). Where possible, the threshing floor was located near the village so that the grain could be guarded. The floor was either bedrock or earth that was packed down to make it hard. It was often bordered with rocks to hold in the grain.
Key References
And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
All Scripture References (35)
Numbers (3)
From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor.
Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.
Therefore say to the Levites, ‘When you have presented the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the produce of the threshing floor or winepress.
Deuteronomy (2)
You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.
You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
Judges (1)
then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”
Ruth (4)
Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.
So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do.
So she lay down at his feet until morning, but she got up before anyone else could recognize her. Then Boaz said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
1 Samuel (1)
Now it was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and looting the threshing floors.”
2 Samuel (4)
But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
“Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” Araunah said. “To buy your threshing floor,” David replied, “that I may build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”
“No,” replied the king, “I insist on paying a price, for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
1 Kings (1)
Dressed in royal attire, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them.
2 Kings (1)
He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”
1 Chronicles (5)
Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David.
Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”
At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there.
2 Chronicles (2)
Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Dressed in royal attire, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them.
Job (1)
Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
Isaiah (1)
O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
Jeremiah (1)
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
Daniel (1)
Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Hosea (3)
Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them.
Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
Joel (1)
The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
Micah (1)
But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
Matthew (1)
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Luke (1)
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”