Bellows

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

 Jeremiah 6:29; "the bellows are burned," so intense a heat is made that the very bellows are almost set on fire; "the lead is consumed of the fire." Used in heating a furnace for smelting metals, not required for the wood fires which were the ancient fuel, and were commonly blown with a fan. The Egyptian bellows, as represented in paintings of the time of Thothmes III, contemporary with Moses, were worked by the feet alternately pressing upon two inflated skins sending the air through reed tubes tipped with iron into the furnace; as each skin became exhausted the blower raised it by a cord in the hand to admit a fresh supply of air.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Instead of 'the bellows are burned,' some prefer to translate 'the bellows puff, or blow, and the lead is consumed in the fire,' lead being formerly used to purify silver.  Jeremiah 6:29 . The allusion is that Israel had not been refined by means of judgement: "reprobate silver shall men call them."  Jeremiah 6:30 . Bellows are seen on the monuments of Egypt, having two bags on which a man stands; by lifting up each foot alternately, and pulling a string, each bag is inflated, and the wind is forced to the fire as the foot descends.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Bellows. The word occurs only in  Jeremiah 6:29, where it denotes an instrument to heat a smelting furnace. Wilkinson in "Ancient Egypt," iii. 338, says, "They consisted of a leather bellows, secured and fitted into a frame, from which a long pipe extended for carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, the operator standing upon them, with one under each foot, and pressing them alternately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin with a string he held in his hand."

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Jeremiah 6:29 Job 20:26 Job 41:21 Isaiah 54:16 Ezekiel 22:20-21Assayer

King James Dictionary

BEL'LOWS, n. sing.and plu.L.bulga An instrument, utensil or machine for blowing fire, either in private dwellings or in forges, furnaces and shops. It is so formed as by being dilated and contracted, to inhale air by a lateral orifice which is opened and closed with a valve, and to propel it through a tube upon the fire.

Webster's Dictionary

(n. sing. & pl.) An instrument, utensil, or machine, which, by alternate expansion and contraction, or by rise and fall of the top, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or filling the pipes of an organ with wind.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Jeremiah 6:29

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BELLOWS . See Arts and Crafts, 2.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Fig. 92—Egyptian forge or furnace

This word only occurs in  Jeremiah 6:29, and is there used with reference to the casting of metal. As fires in the East are always of wood or charcoal, a sufficient heat for ordinary purposes is soon raised by the help of fans, and the use of bellows is confined to the workers in metal. Such was the case anciently; and in the mural paintings of Egypt we observe no bellows but such as are used for the forge or furnace. They thus occur as early as the time of Moses, being represented in a tomb at Thebes which bears the name of Thothmes III. They consisted of a leathern bag, secured and fitted into a frame, from which a long pipe extended for carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, the operator standing upon them with one under each foot and pressing them alternately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin with a string he held in his hand. In one instance it is observed from the painting, that when the man left the bellows they were raised as if filled with air, and this would imply a knowledge of the valve.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bel´ōz , bel´us  : The word occurs once only in English Versions of the Bible, in  Jeremiah 6:29 , where the prophet is predicting the coming of the destroyer ( Jeremiah 6:26 ), "a great nation" from "the north country" ( Jeremiah 6:22 ), down upon Israel, because "all of them deal corruptly" ( Jeremiah 6:28 ). "The bellows blow fiercely; the leads is of the fire." Here the imagery is drawn from the refiner's art, and the "bellows" are those used to make the refiner's fires burn fiercely. See Crafts , II, 10.