HEARTH. In Biblical times the hearth was a depression in the floor of a house or tent, in the center or in a corner, and in this food was cooked, or bread was baked in the ashes or upon hot stones (Gen 18:6). There was no chimney; smoke escaped through a door or a window. Where obtainable, wood was used as a fuel, but withered vegetation (Matt 6:30) and dried cow and camel dung were also used (Ezek 4:15). In the better class of houses, in the cold season, rooms were warmed by means of a brazier (Jer 36:22f. RSV), or firepan (Zech 12:6, KJV, ASV “hearth of fire,” RSV “blazing pot”). The term “altar hearth” was applied to the top of the altar of burnt offering (Ezek 43:15, 16). See House.