1 Samuel 7:6
ESV - 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
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Water was a relatively scarce and precious commodity in the Middle East. Thus, to draw water, only to then pour it out in a religious context, was symbolic of self-denial or self-sacrifice, and of repentance, as fasting would be with regard to food. Figurative references to "pouring one's heart out" in confession employ the same imagery.
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