granary

A storage facility for threshed and winnowed grains such as wheat and barley. The facility ranged in size and format from an entire building of rooms or compartments to plastered or unplastered pits or silos to individual jars or containers. The presence of large granary structures in the ancient Near East implies a surplus production of wheat to guard against famine years as well as some type of organized system for redistribution of the grain (Jer 50:26; Joel 1:17; Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17).