Paint

PAINT. The Biblical references to paint and painting are comparatively few, in spite of the fact that the people of the Near E have always been fond of bright colors. Black paint was used to enlarge the eyes (2 Kings 9:30; Jer 4:30; Ezek 23:40). In Jeremiah 22:14, mention is made of painting a house with vermillion (sāsar, cf. Akkad.: šaršaru, šaršēre, red paste); in Ezekiel 23:14, of drawing pictures on the wall with the same material. The bright red pigment, “vermillion,” was either cinnabar (red mercuric sulphide) or minium (red oxide of lead).