Practiced in Palestine from the earliest times. The loom in use was an upright frame, provided with a horizontal beam (1 Sam. 17: 7) from which a row of threads, called the warp (Lev. 13: 48) or web (Judg. 16: 13) was hung. Each thread ran through a loop, by means of which it was moved backwards and forwards, while the shuttle, a wooden implement shaped like a boat, passed to and from among the threads of the warp, winding off from itself, as it went, the thread called the woof (Lev. 13: 48), which was at right angles with the warp. In Job. 7: 6 the shuttle is the emblem of the swift flight of man’s life.