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The “ash-pans” mentioned in Exodus 27:3 were made of copper, and were used in connection with the altar of burnt-offering. The “iron pan” mentioned in Ezekiel 4:3 (marg., “flat plate “ or “slice”) was probably a mere plate of iron used for baking. The “fire-pans” of Exodus 27:3 were fire-shovels used for taking up coals. The same Hebrew word is rendered “snuff-dishes” (25:38; 37:23) and “censers” (Leviticus 10:1; 16:12; Numbers 4:14, etc.). These were probably simply metal vessels employed for carrying burning embers from the brazen altar to the altar of incense.

The “frying-pan” mentioned in Leviticus 2:7; 7:9 was a pot for boiling.

•PANNAG (Ezekiel 27:17; marg. R.V., “perhaps a kind of confection”) the Jews explain as the name of a kind of sweet pastry. Others take it as the name of some place, identifying it with Pingi, on the road between Damascus and Baalbec. “Pannaga” is the Sanscrit name of an aromatic plant (comp. Genesis 43:11).

•PAPER The expression in the Authorized Version (Isaiah 19:7), “the paper reeds by the brooks,” is in the Revised Version more correctly “the meadows by the Nile.” The words undoubtedly refer to a grassy place on the banks of the Nile fit for pasturage.

In 2 John 1:12 the word is used in its proper sense. The material so referred to was manufactured from the papyrus, and hence its name. The papyrus (Hebrews gome) was a kind of bulrush (q.v.). It is mentioned by Job (8:11) and Isaiah (35:7). It was used for many purposes. This plant (Papyrus Nilotica) is now unknown in Egypt; no trace of it can be found. The unaccountable disappearance of this plant from Egypt was foretold by Isaiah (19:6, 7) as a part of the divine judgment on that land. The most extensive papyrus growths now known are in the marshes at the northern end of the lake of Merom.

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