Bible Dictionary
STOOL
A stool was a seat or unusual two-stone arrangement mentioned in connection with childbirth. In another passage, a word translated “stool” in the King James Version is more accurately rendered “seat.”
Definition
A stool was a peculiar seat or two-stone arrangement whose exact form and purpose are uncertain. It appears to have been a chair on which a woman partly reclined during childbirth. A different word translated “stool” in the King James Version means “seat” in the Revised Version.
Biblical Usage
The childbirth stool is mentioned in the account of the Hebrew midwives. The other occurrence concerns a seat prepared for a prophet’s visit.
Historical Background
The Hebrew term is dual in number and primarily means “two stones.” Its other occurrence is rendered “wheels,” or “on the stones,” in the cited passage.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>stool ('obhnayim): It is not clear what the character and purpose of this stool were Septuagint has no reference to it). It seems to have been a chair of a peculiar sort upon which a woman reclined in parturition (Ex 1:16). The Hebrew word is in the dual number and primarily means "two stones." The only other place where it occurs is Jer 18:3, where it is rendered "wheels" Septuagint epi ton lithon, "on the stones"). In 2Ki 4:10, the word translated in the King James Version as "stool" (kicce') is in the Revised Version (British and American) more correctly translated "seat."</p><p>See also BIRTH-STOOL; SEAT.</p><p>Jesse L. Cotton</p>