Bible Encyclopedias
Bolster

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bōl´stẽr : Found in the King James Version only in 1 Samuel 19:13 , 1 Samuel 19:16 , "Behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goat's hair at the head thereof" (the King James Version "for his bolster"), and 1 Samuel 26:7 , 1 Samuel 26:11 , 1 Samuel 26:12 , 1 Samuel 26:16 , "Saul lay sleeping ... with his spear stuck in the ground at his head ." "Bolster" in these passages in the King James Version was used to translate a Hebrew word whose true significance is "the place of the head," or "the head-place." It will be noted that it has disappeared from the Revised Version (British and American), which rightly has throughout "head," instead of "bolster." See CUSHION .