The Gibeonites told Joshua: “These are the wine skin-bottles [Heb., noʼ·dhohthʹ] that we filled new, and, look! they have burst.” (Jos 9:13) Such a thing could happen in time because of pressure built up because of active fermentation of the wine.

David, a fugitive beleaguered by foes, referred to the skin bottle figuratively, saying: “Do put my tears in your skin bottle.” (Ps 56:8) Thus David requested God, in whom he placed his trust, to put his tears as if in a skin bottle in order to remember them.

The common way to make a skin bottle was to kill an animal, cut off its head and feet, and then carefully draw it out of the hide in such a way that it was unnecessary to cut open the creature’s belly. The skin would be tanned, and then all openings but one would be sewed up. The neck or perhaps one of the projections for the legs would be left unsewn, and this served as the opening, which could be closed with a plug or a string. The hides of sheep, goats, and sometimes of cattle were used for this purpose, and in some instances, the hair was left on the skins used to hold milk, butter, cheese, and water. However, a more thorough tanning process was required when the skin bottles were to be used for oil and wine. Even in more recent times many skin bottles have been made similarly in the Middle East. When skin water bottles are not tanned, they impart an unpleasant taste to the water kept in them.