Meaning
Bottle a vessel made of skins for holding wine (Josh 9:4. 13; 1Sam 16:20; Matt 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38), or milk (Judg 4:19), or water (Gen 21:14, 15, 19), or strong drink (Hab 2:15).
Earthenware vessels were also similarly used (Jer 19:1-10; 1Kings 14:3; Isa 30:14). In Job 32:19 (comp. Matt 9:17; Luke 5:37, 38; Mark 2:22) the reference is to a wine-skin ready to burst through the fermentation of the wine. "Bottles of wine" in the Authorized Version of Hos 7:5 is properly rendered in the Revised Version by "the heat of wine," i.e., the fever of wine, its intoxicating strength.
The clouds are figuratively called the "bottles of heaven" (Job 38:37). A bottle blackened or shrivelled by smoke is referred to in Ps 119:83 as an image to which the psalmist likens himself.
