Reference: Weights and Measures
Fausets
WEIGHTS: mishkol from "shekel" (the weight in commonest use); eben, a "stone", anciently used as a weight; peles, "scales". Of all Jewish weights the shekel was the most accurate, as a half shekel was ordered by God to be paid by every Israelite as a ransom. From the period of the Exodus there were two shekels, one for ordinary business (Ex 38:29; Jos 7:21; 2Ki 7:1; Am 8:5), the other, which was larger, for religious uses (Ex 30:13; Le 5:15; Nu 3:47). The silver in the half-shekel was 1 shilling, 3 1/2 pence; it contained 20 gerahs, literally, beans, a name of a weight, as our grain from grain.
The Attic tetradrachma, or Greek stater, was equivalent to the shekel. The didrachma of the Septuagint at Alexandria was equivalent to the Attic tetradrachma. The shekel was about 220 grains weight. In 2Sa 14:26 "shekel after the king's weight" refers to the perfect standard kept by David. Michaelis makes five to three the proportion of the holy shekel to the commercial shekel; for in Eze 45:12 the maneh contains 60 of the holy shekels; in 1Ki 10:17; 2Ch 9:16, each maneh contained 100 commercial shekels, i.e. 100 to (60 or five to three. After the captivity the holy shekel alone was used. The half shekel (Ex 38:26; Mt 17:24) was the beka (meaning "division"): the "quarter shekel", reba; the "20th of the shekel", gerah.
Hussey calculates the shekel at half ounce avoirdupois, and the maneh half pound, 14 oz.; 60 holy shekels were in the maneh, 3,000 in the silver talent, so 50 maneh in the talent: 660,000 grains, or 94 lbs. 5 oz. The gold talent is made by Smith's Bible Dictionary 100 manehs, double the silver talent (50 manehs); by the Imperial Bible Dictionary identical with it. (See SHEKEL; MONEY; TALENT.) A gold maneh contained 100 shekels of gold. The Hebrew talents of silver and copper were exchangeable in the proportion of about one to 80; 50 shekels of silver are thought equal to a talent of copper. "Talent" means a circle or aggregate sum. One talent of gold corresponded to 24 talents of silver.
MEASURES: Those of length are derived from the human body. The Hebrew used the forearm as the "cubit," but not the "foot." The Egyptian terms hin, 'ephah, and 'ammah (cubit) favor the view that the Hebrew derived their measures from Egypt. The similarity of the Hebrew to the Athenian scales for liquids makes it likely that both came from the one origin, namely, Egypt. Piazzi Smyth observes the sacred cubit of the Jews, 25 inches (to which Sir Isaac Newton's calculation closely approximates), is represented in the great pyramid, 2500 B.C.; in contrast to the ordinary standard cubits, from 18 to 21 inches, the Egyptian one which Israel had to use in Egypt. The 25-inch cubit measure is better than any other in its superior earth-axis commensurability. The inch is the real unit of British linear measure: 25 such inches (increased on the present parliamentary inch by one thousandth) was Israel's sacred cubit; 1.00099 of an English inch makes one pyramid inch; the earlier English inch was still closer to the pyramid inch.
Smyth remarks that no pagan device of idolatry, not even the sun and moon, is pourtrayed in the great pyramid, though there are such hieroglyphics in two older pyramids. He says the British grain measure "quarter" is just one fourth of the coffer in the king's chamber, which is the same capacity as the Saxon chaldron or four quarters. The small passage of the pyramid represents a unit day; the grand gallery, seven unit days or a week. The grand gallery is seven times as high as one of the small and similarly inclined passages equalling 350 inches, i.e. seven times 50 inches. The names Shofo and Noushofo (Cheops and Chephren of Herodotus) are marked in the chambers of construction by the stonemasons at the quarry. The Egyptian dislike to those two kings was not because of forced labour, for other pyramids were built so by native princes, but because they overthrew the idolatrous temples.
The year is marked by the entrance step into the great gallery, 90.5 inches, going 366 times into the circumference of the pyramid. The seven overlappings of the courses of polished stones on the eastern and the western sides of the gallery represent two weeks of months of 26 days each so there are 26 holes in the western ramp; on the other ramp 28, in the antechamber two day holes over and above the 26. Four grooves represent four years, three of them hollow and one full, i.e. three years in which only one day is to be added to the 14 x 26 for the year; the fourth full from W. to E., i.e. two days to be added on leap year, 366 days. The full groove not equal in breadth to the hollow one implies that the true length of the year is not quite 365 1/4 days. Job (Job 38:6) speaks of the earth's "sockets" with imagery from the pyramid, which was built by careful measurement on a prepared platform of rock.
French savants A.D. 1800 described sockets in the leveled rock fitted to receive the four corner stones. The fifth corner stone was the topstone completing the whole; the morning stars singing together at the topstone being put to creation answers to the shoutings, Grace unto it, at the topstone being put to redemption (Job 38:7; Zec 4:7); Eph 2:19, "the chief corner stone in which all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy tern. pie." The topstone was "disallowed by the builders" as "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense" to them; for the pyramids previously constructed were terrace topped, not topped with the finished pointed cornerstone.
Pyramid is derived from peram "lofty" (Ewald), from puros "wheat" (P. Smyth). The mean density of the earth (5,672) is introduced into the capacity and weight measures of the pyramid (Isa 40:12). The Egyptians disliked the number five, the characteristic of the great pyramid, which has five sides, five angles, five corner stones, and the five sided coffer. Israel's predilection for it appears in their marching five in a rank (Hebrew for "harnessed"), Ex 13:18; according to Manetho, 250,000, i.e. 5 x 50,000; so the shepherd kings at Avaris are described as 250,000; 50 inches is the grand standard of length in the pyramid, five is the number of books in the Pentateuch, 50 is the number of the Jubilee year, 25 inches (5 x 5) the cubit, an integral fraction of the earth's axis of rotation, 50 the number of Pentecost. (See NUMBER.)
The cow sacrifice of Israel was an "abomination to the Egyptians"; and the divinely taught builders of the great pyramid were probably of the chosen race, in the line of, though preceding, Abraham and closer to Noah, introducers into Egypt of the pure worship of Jehovah (such as Melchizedek held) after its apostasy to idols, maintaining the animal sacrifices originally ordained by God (Ge 3:21; 4:4,7; Heb 11:4), but rejected in Egypt; forerunners of the hyksos or shepherd kings who from the Canaan quarter made themselves masters of Egypt. The enormous mass of unoccupied masonry would have been useless as a tomb, but necessary if the pyramid was designed to preserve an equal temperature for unexceptionable scientific observations; 100 ft. deep inside the pyramid would prevent a variation of heat beyond 01 degree of Fahrenheit, but the king's chamber is 180 ft. deep to compensate for the altering of air currents through the passages.
The Hebrew finger, about seven tenths of an inch, was the smaller measure. The palm or handbreadth was four fingers, three or four inches; illustrates the shortness of time (Ps 39:5). The span, the space between the extended extremities of the thumb and little finger, three palms, about seven and a half inches. The old Mosaic or sacred cubit (the length from the elbow to the end of the middle finger, 25 inches) was a handbreadth longer than the civil cubit of the time of the captivity (from the elbow to the wrist, 21 inches): Eze 40:5; 43:13; 2Ch 3:3, "cubits after the first (according to the earlier) measure." The Mosaic cubit (Thenius in Keil on 1Ki 6:2) was two spans, 20 1/2 Dresden inches, 214,512 Parisian lines long.
Og's bedstead, nine cubits long (De 3:11) "after the cubit of a man," i.e. according to the ordinary cubit (compare Re 21:17) as contrasted with any
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Yahweh God made for the man - and for his wife - tunics of skin and clothed them.
Abel, also, even, he, brought in of the firstlings of his sheep, and of their fat, and Yahweh approved of Abel and of his present;
Shall it not, if thou do right, be lifted up? But if thou do not right, at the entrance a sin-bearer is lying, - Unto thee, moreover, shall be his longing, though, thou, rule over him.
So Abraham hastened towards the tent unto Sarah, - and said, Hasten thou three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make hearth-cakes.
Then brake they up from Beth-el, and it came to pass when there was yet a stretch of country, to enter into Ephrath, that Rachel was in childbirth, and had hard-labour in her child-birth.
But, as for me, when I came in from Padan, Rachel died by me, in the land of Canaan, in the way, while yet there was a stretch of country to come into Ephrath, - so I buried her there in the way to Ephrath, the same, is Bethlehem.
So God took the people round the desert-way of the Red Sea, - and the sons of Israel went up armed, out of the land of Egypt.
This, is the thing which Yahweh hath commanded, Gather ye thereof, each man what he needeth for eating, - an omer a head, by the number of your souls, each man - for them who are in his tent, shall ye take.
So Moses said unto Aaron - Take a single basket, and put therein an omer-full of manna, - and set it down before Yahweh, as a thing to be preserved to your generations. As Yahweh gave command unto Moses, so did Aaron set it down before the testimony, as a thing to be preserved,
This, shall they give - every one that passeth over to them that have been numbered - a half-shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary, - the shekel is twenty gerahs - the half-shekel, shalt be a heave-offering to Yahweh.
a bekah per head, that is a half shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, for all that passed over to them who had been numbered, from twenty years old and upwards, for six hundred and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.
And the bronze of the wave-offering, was seventy talents, - and two thousand and four hundred shekels.
Whensoever, any person, shall commit a trespass, and shall take away by mistake, from the holy things of Yahweh, then shall he bring in as his guilt-bearer unto Yahweh, a ram without defect out of the flock, with thine estimate in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt-bearer:
Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them: - When ye enter into the land which, I, am giving you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring in a sheaf of the first-ripe corn of your harvest, unto the priest;
thou shalt take five shekels apiece by the poll, - by the shekel of the sanctuary, shalt thou take it, twenty gerahs to the shekel;
Now, a wind, had sprung up, from Yahweh, and cut off quails from the sea, and let them lie over the camp - as it were a days journey here and a days journey there, round about the amp, - and as it were two cubits on the face of the land.
For, only Og, king of Bashan was left remaining of the remnant of the giants, lo! his bedstead, was a bedstead of iron, is not, the same, in Rabbath of the sons of Ammon? nine cubits, the length thereof and four cubits, the breadth thereof, by the fore-arm of a man.
When I saw among the spoil a certain goodly mantle of Babylonia and two hundred shekels of silver and a certain wedge of gold - fifty shekels the weight thereof, then I coveted them, then I took them, - and, there they are, hid in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
And when he polled his head - and it was at every year's end that he used to poll it, because it was heavy upon him, therefore he used to poll it - he would weigh the hair of his head, two hundred shekels, by the royal standard.
Now, the house which King Solomon built unto Yahweh, was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, - and thirty cubits in height.
There was nothing in the ark, save the two tables of stone, which Moses deposited there in Horeb, - the tables of the covenant which Yahweh solemnised with the sons of Israel, when they came forth out of the land of Egypt.
and three hundred bucklers, of beaten gold, one hundred and fifty shekels of gold, laid he upon one buckler, - and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
And there came to be, a great famine, in Samaria, and lo! they continued the siege against it, - until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and one pint of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
Whereon were the pedestals thereof sunk? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; - When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Lo! as hand-breadths, hast thou granted my days, and my life-time, is as nothing before thee, - Surely, a mere breath, are all men, even such as stand firm. Selah.
Who hath measured, with the hollow of his hand, the waters. Or the heavens with a span, hath meted out, Or hath comprehended, in a measure, the dust of the earth, Or weighed, in scales, the mountains, Or the hills, in a balance?
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed.
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed.
Then saw I that the house had a height round about on every side, - the foundations of the side- chambers, a full reed, six cubits to the joining.
And these, shall be the measures of the altar, in cubits, a cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth; and the hollow, shall be a cubit, and a cubit the breadth, and the boundary thereof unto the edge thereof round about shall he a single span. And this, shall he the upper part of the altar,
the ephah and the bath of one fixed measure, shall be, to contain the tenth of a homer, the bath, - and the tenth of a homer, the ephah, unto the homer, shall be the proportion thereof;
the ephah and the bath of one fixed measure, shall be, to contain the tenth of a homer, the bath, - and the tenth of a homer, the ephah, unto the homer, shall be the proportion thereof; and the shekel shall be twenty gerahs, - twenty shekels five and twenty shekels and fifteen shekels, the weight shall be to you.
And the statutory portion of oil shall be - per bath for oil - a tenth part of a bath out of a cot, which is ten baths even a homer; for ten baths are a homer.
So I secured n her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver, - and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
Who say, When will the new moon, pass away, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath that we may open grain? who diminish the ephah, and increase the shekel, and who falsify by deceitful weights:
Who, art, thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, brought down to a plain! So shall he bring forth the headstone, with thundering shouts Beautiful! Beautiful! thereunto.
Neither light they a lamp, and place it under the measure; but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all that are in the house.
And, whoever shall impress thee one mile, go with him two:
Another parable, spake he unto them: - The kingdom of the heavens is like, unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until, the whole, was leavened.
And, when they came into Capernaum, they who, the half shekel, were receiving, came near unto Peter, and said, Your teacher, doth he not pay the half shekel?
and coming from market, unless they sprinkle themselves, they eat not, - and, many other things, there are, which they have accepted to hold fast - immersions of cups and measures and copper vessels - - and so the Pharisees and the Scribes, question, him - For what cause do thy disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but, with defiled hands, eat bread? read more. But, he, said unto them - Well, prophesied Isaiah concerning you, ye hypocrites, as it is written - This people, with the lips do honour me, while, their heart, far off, holdeth from me, - But, in vain, do they pay devotions unto me, teaching for teachings, the commandments of men; Having, dismissed, the commandment, of God, ye, hold fast, the tradition, of men.
And, he, said - A hundred baths of oil. And, he, said unto him - Kindly take thine accounts, and, sitting down, make haste and write - Fifty! After that, unto another, he said - And how much owest, thou? And, he, said - A hundred homers of wheat. He saith unto him - Kindly take thine accounts, and write - Eighty!
And lo! two from among them, on the selfsame day, were journeying unto a village, distant sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, the name of which, was Emmaus;
and were continually in the temple, blessing God.
Now there were there, six stone water-vessels, placed, according to the purification of the Jews; holding each, two or three measures.
Hence, then - no longer, are ye strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and members of the household of God, -
By faith, a fuller sacrifice, did Abel, offer unto God, than Cain, - through which, he received witness that he was righteous, there being a witnessing upon his gifts, by God; and, through it, though he died, he yet is speaking.
And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying - A quart of wheat for, a denary, and three quarts of barley, for a denary, - and, the oil and the wine, do not wrong.
And he measured the wall thereof, - a hundred and forty-four cubits: the measure of a man, which is the measure of a messenger.
Hastings
Since the most important of all ancient Oriental systems of weights and measures, the Babylonian, seems to have been based on a unit of length (the measures of capacity and weight being scientifically derived there from), it is reasonable to deal with the measures of length before proceeding to measures of capacity and weight. At the same time it seems probable that the measures of length in use in Palestine were based on a more primitive, and (so far as we know) unscientific system, which is to be connected with Egypt. The Babylonian system associated with Gudea (c. b.c. 3000), on statues of whom a scale, indicating a cubit of 30 digits or 19? inches, has been found engraved, was not adopted by the Hebrews.
I. Measures of Length
The Hebrew unit was a cubit /6 of a reed, Eze 40:5), containing 2 spans or 6 palms or 24 finger's breadths. The early system did not recognize the foot or the fathom. Measurements were taken both by the 6-cubit rod or reed and the line or 'fillet' (Eze 40:3; Jer 31:39; 52:21; 1Ki 7:15).
The ancient Hebrew literary authorities for the early Hebrew cubit are as follows. The 'cubit of a man' (De 3:11) was the unit by which the 'bedstead' of Og, king of Bashan, was measured (cf. Re 21:17). This implies that at the time to which the passage belongs (apparently not long before the time of Ezekiel) the Hebrews were familiar with more than one cubit, of which that in question was the ordinary working cubit. Solomon's Temple was laid out on the basis of a cubit 'after the first (or ancient) measure' (2Ch 3:3). Now Ezekiel (Eze 40:5; 43:13) prophesies the building of a Temple on a unit which he describes as a cubit and a band's breadth, i.e. 7/5 of the ordinary cubit. As in his vision he is practically reproducing Solomon's Temple, we may infer that Solomon's cubit, i.e. the ancient cubit, was also /5 of the ordinary cubit of Ezekiel's time. We thus have an ordinary cubit of 6, and what we may call (by analogy with the Egyptian system) the royal cubit of 7 hand's breadths. For this double system is curiously parallel to the Egyptian, in which there was a common cubit of 0.450 m. or 17.72 in., which was /7 of the royal cubit of 0.525 m. or 20.67 in. (these data are derived from actual measuring rods). A similar distinction between a common and a royal norm existed in the Babylonian weight-system. Its object there was probably to give the government an advantage in the case of taxation; probably also in the case of measures of length the excess of the royal over the common measure had a similar object.
We have at present no means of ascertaining the exact dimensions of the Hebrew ordinary and royal cubits. The balance of evidence is certainly in favour of a fairly close approximation to the Egyptian system. The estimates vary from 16 to 25.2 inches. They are based on: (1) the Siloam inscription, which says: 'The waters flowed from the outlet to the Pool 1200 cubits,' or, according to another reading, '1000 cubits.' The length of the canal is estimated at 537.6 m., which yields a cubit of 0.525 to 0.527 m. (20.67 to 20.75 in.) or 0.538 m. (21.18 in.) according to the reading adopted. Further uncertainty is occasioned by the possibility of the number 1200 or 1000 being only a round number. The evidence of the Siloam inscription is thus of a most unsatisfactory kind. (2) The measurements of tombs. Some of these appear to be constructed on the basis of the Egyptian cubit; others seem to yield cubits of 0.575 m. (about 22.6 in.) or 0.641 m. (about 25.2 in.). The last two cubits seem to be improbable. The measurements of another tomb (known as the Tomb of Joshua) seem to confirm the deduction of the cubit of about 0.525 m. (3) The measurement of grains of barley. This has been objected to for more than one reason. But the Rabbinical tradition allowed 144 barley-corns of medium size, laid side by side, to the cubit; and it is remarkable that a recent careful attempt made on these lioes resulted in a cubit of 17.77 in. (0.451 m.), which is the Egyptian common cubit. (4) Recently it has been pointed out that Josephus, when using Jewish measures of capacity, etc., which differ from the Greek or Roman, is usually careful to give an equation explaining the measures to his Greek or Roman readers, while in the case of the cubit he does not do so, but seems to regard the Hebrew and the Roman-Attic as practically the same. The Roman-Attic cubit (1/2 ft.) is fixed at 0.444 m. or 17.57 in., so that we have here a close approximation to the Egyptian common cubit. Probably in Josephus' time the Hebrew common cubit was, as ascertained by the methods mentioned above, 0.450 m.; and the difference between this and the Attic-Roman was regarded by him as negligible for ordinary purposes. (5) The Mishna. No data of any value for the exact determination of the cubit are to be obtained from this source. Four cubits is given as the length of a loculus in a rock-cut tomb; it has been pointed out that, allowing some 2 inches for the bier, and taking 5 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 8 in. as the average height of the Jewish body, this gives 4 cubits = 5 ft. 10 in., or 17/2 in. to the cubit. On the cubit in Herod's Temple, see A. R. S. Kennedy in art. Temple (p. 902), and in artt. in Expository Times xx. [1908], p. 24 ff.
The general inference from the above five sources of information is that the Jews had two cubits, a shorter and a longer, corresponding closely to the Egyptian common and royal cubit. The equivalents are expressed in the following table:
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And it came to pass when the camels had done drinking, that the man took a ring of gold, half a shekel its weight, - and two bracelets for her hands, ten of gold their weight;
then put he a journey of three days between himself and Jacob, - but, Jacob himself, continued tending the flocks of Laban that were left.
Then brake they up from Beth-el, and it came to pass when there was yet a stretch of country, to enter into Ephrath, that Rachel was in childbirth, and had hard-labour in her child-birth.
But, as for me, when I came in from Padan, Rachel died by me, in the land of Canaan, in the way, while yet there was a stretch of country to come into Ephrath, - so I buried her there in the way to Ephrath, the same, is Bethlehem.
See because Yahweh hath given you the sabbath, for this cause, is, he, giving you on the sixth day, food for two days, - abide ye every man in his place, let no man go forth from his dwelling, on the seventh day,
Four-square, shall it be double, - a span the length thereof and a span the breadth thereof.
This, shall they give - every one that passeth over to them that have been numbered - a half-shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary, - the shekel is twenty gerahs - the half-shekel, shalt be a heave-offering to Yahweh.
Thou, therefore, take to thee - principal spices, - self-flowing myrrh, five hundred, and fragrant cinnamon, half as much, two hundred and fifty, and, fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty; and, cassia, five hundred, by the shekel of the sanctuary, - and, oil olive, a hin.
As for all the gold that was used for, he work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, it came to pass that the gold of the wave-offering was nine-and-twenty talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary. And, the silver of them who were numbered of the assembly, was one hundred talents, - and one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary; read more. a bekah per head, that is a half shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, for all that passed over to them who had been numbered, from twenty years old and upwards, for six hundred and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.
Foursquare, it was doubled, made they the breastpiece, - a span, was the length thereof, and, a span, the breadth thereof, doubled.
so shall he bring it in unto the sons of Aaron, the priests, and he shall grasp therefrom a handful of the fine meal thereof and of the oil thereof, besides all the frankincense thereof, - and the priest shall make a perfume with the memorial thereof at the altar, an altar-flame of a satisfying odour unto Yahweh.
And, on the eighth day, he shall take two he-lambs, without defect, and one ewe-lamb, the choice of its year without defect, - and three-tenths of fine meal for a meal-offering, overflowed with oil, and one log of oil.
And the priest shall take one he-lamb, and bring him near as a guilt-bearer and the log of oil, - and shall wave them as a wave-offering, before Yahweh;
Just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just hin, shall ye have, - I - Yahweh, am your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt.
And if of the field of his possession any man would hallow unto Yahweh, then shall thine estimate be according to the seed thereof, - the seed of a homer of barley, at fifty shekels of silver.
And, every estimate of thine, shall be by the holy shekel, - twenty gerahs, make the shekel.
So then they went forward, from the mountain of Yahweh, a journey of three days, - and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, was going before them a journey of three days, to search out for them a resting-place,
Now, a wind, had sprung up, from Yahweh, and cut off quails from the sea, and let them lie over the camp - as it were a days journey here and a days journey there, round about the amp, - and as it were two cubits on the face of the land.
For, only Og, king of Bashan was left remaining of the remnant of the giants, lo! his bedstead, was a bedstead of iron, is not, the same, in Rabbath of the sons of Ammon? nine cubits, the length thereof and four cubits, the breadth thereof, by the fore-arm of a man.
So Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, - and girded it under his raiment, upon his right thigh.
And the first smiting wherewith Jonathan and his armour-bearer smote, was about twenty men, - within, as it were, half a furrow's length of a yoke of land.
And so it was that, when they who bare the ark of Yahweh had stepped forward six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a heifer.
And when he polled his head - and it was at every year's end that he used to poll it, because it was heavy upon him, therefore he used to poll it - he would weigh the hair of his head, two hundred shekels, by the royal standard.
And, the thickness thereof, was a hand breadth, and, the brim thereof, was like the brim-work of a cup, of lily-blossoms, - two thousand baths, did it contain.
and three hundred bucklers, of beaten gold, one hundred and fifty shekels of gold, laid he upon one buckler, - and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
and built, with the stones, an altar, in the name of Yahweh, - and he made a trench, as large as would contain two measures of seed, round about the altar;
And there came to be, a great famine, in Samaria, and lo! they continued the siege against it, - until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and one pint of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
And there came to be, a great famine, in Samaria, and lo! they continued the siege against it, - until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and one pint of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
And, these, are the things wherein Solomon was grounded for the building of the house of God, - The length, by cubits, in the first measure, was sixty cubits, and, the breadth, twenty cubits.
For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,
For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,
For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,
Then shall go forth again the measuring-line straight forward, Over the hill Gareb, And it shall go round to Goah;
Now as for the pillars, eighteen cubits, was the height of each pillar, and, a line of twelve cubits, compassed it about, - and the thickness thereof was four fingers breadth - hollow;
Now as for the pillars, eighteen cubits, was the height of each pillar, and, a line of twelve cubits, compassed it about, - and the thickness thereof was four fingers breadth - hollow;
And when he brought me thither, then lo! a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a flax-cord in his hand and measuring reed, - and he was standing in the gate.
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed.
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed.
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed.
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed.
And there were hooks of three hand-breadth fastened within round about on every side, - and upon the tables, the flesh of the offering.
And these, shall be the measures of the altar, in cubits, a cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth; and the hollow, shall be a cubit, and a cubit the breadth, and the boundary thereof unto the edge thereof round about shall he a single span. And this, shall he the upper part of the altar,
And these, shall be the measures of the altar, in cubits, a cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth; and the hollow, shall be a cubit, and a cubit the breadth, and the boundary thereof unto the edge thereof round about shall he a single span. And this, shall he the upper part of the altar,
the ephah and the bath of one fixed measure, shall be, to contain the tenth of a homer, the bath, - and the tenth of a homer, the ephah, unto the homer, shall be the proportion thereof;
the ephah and the bath of one fixed measure, shall be, to contain the tenth of a homer, the bath, - and the tenth of a homer, the ephah, unto the homer, shall be the proportion thereof; and the shekel shall be twenty gerahs, - twenty shekels five and twenty shekels and fifteen shekels, the weight shall be to you. read more. This is the heave-offering which ye shall offer up,- the sixth of an ephah, out of a homer of wheat, and the sixth of an ephah, out of a homer of barley; And the statutory portion of oil shall be - per bath for oil - a tenth part of a bath out of a cot, which is ten baths even a homer; for ten baths are a homer.
And the statutory portion of oil shall be - per bath for oil - a tenth part of a bath out of a cot, which is ten baths even a homer; for ten baths are a homer.
So I secured n her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver, - and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
So I secured n her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver, - and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
So I secured n her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver, - and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
So Jonah began to enter into the city, one day's journey, - and he cried out and said - Yet forty days, and, Nineveh, is to be overthrown!
Neither light they a lamp, and place it under the measure; but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all that are in the house.
Another parable, spake he unto them: - The kingdom of the heavens is like, unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until, the whole, was leavened.
and coming from market, unless they sprinkle themselves, they eat not, - and, many other things, there are, which they have accepted to hold fast - immersions of cups and measures and copper vessels - -
but, supposing him to be in the company, went a day's journey, and then began to seek for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances,
After that, unto another, he said - And how much owest, thou? And, he, said - A hundred homers of wheat. He saith unto him - Kindly take thine accounts, and write - Eighty!
And, calling ten servants of his own, he gave unto them ten minas, and said unto them - Do business, till I come.
And lo! two from among them, on the selfsame day, were journeying unto a village, distant sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, the name of which, was Emmaus;
Now there were there, six stone water-vessels, placed, according to the purification of the Jews; holding each, two or three measures.
Mary, therefore, taking a pound of pure nard perfume, very precious, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped, with her hair, his feet; and, the house, was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Mary, therefore, taking a pound of pure nard perfume, very precious, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped, with her hair, his feet; and, the house, was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
There came, moreover, Nicodemus also, - he that came unto him by night at the first, - bearing a roll of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight.
Then returned they into Jerusalem, from a mountain called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.
And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying - A quart of wheat for, a denary, and three quarts of barley, for a denary, - and, the oil and the wine, do not wrong.
And, great hail, as talents, cometh down out of heaven upon mankind; and men blasphemed God, by reason of the plague of hail, - because the plague thereof was, exceeding great.
And he measured the wall thereof, - a hundred and forty-four cubits: the measure of a man, which is the measure of a messenger.
Morish
In the O.T. money was weighed. The first recorded transaction in scripture is that of Abraham buying the field of Ephron the Hittite for four hundred shekels of silver, which Abraham 'weighed' to Ephron. Ge 23:15-16. The shekel here was a weight. Judas Maccabaeus, about B.C. 141, was the first to coin Jewish money, though there existed doubtless from of old pieces of silver of known value, which passed from hand to hand without being always weighed. Herod the Great coined money with his name on it; and Herod Agrippa had some coins; but after that the coins in Palestine were Roman. The following tables must be taken approximately only: the authorities differ.
WEIGHTS.
The principal weights in use were as follows with their approximate equivalents:
AVOIRDUPOIS.
Pounds ozs. drams.
Gerah (1/20 of a shekel)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And, this, is how thou shalt make it, - three hundred cubits, the length of the ark, fifty cubits, the breadth thereof, and thirty cubits the height thereof.
My lord, hear me, - Land worth four hundred shekels of silver - betwixt me and thee, what is that? And thy dead., bur. thou.
My lord, hear me, - Land worth four hundred shekels of silver - betwixt me and thee, what is that? And thy dead., bur. thou. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver of which he had spoken in the ears of the sons of Heth, - four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant,
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver of which he had spoken in the ears of the sons of Heth, - four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant,
And it came to pass when the camels had done drinking, that the man took a ring of gold, half a shekel its weight, - and two bracelets for her hands, ten of gold their weight;
And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread out his tent, at the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, - for a hundred kesitahs.
And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread out his tent, at the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, - for a hundred kesitahs.
This, is the thing which Yahweh hath commanded, Gather ye thereof, each man what he needeth for eating, - an omer a head, by the number of your souls, each man - for them who are in his tent, shall ye take.
Now, an omer, is, the tenth of the ephah.
With a talent of pure gold, shall he make it, with all these vessels,
Four-square, shall it be double, - a span the length thereof and a span the breadth thereof.
and a tenth part of fine meal mingled with a fourth part of the hin of beaten oil, and, as a drink-offering, a fourth part of the hin of wine, - with the one lamb.
and a tenth part of fine meal mingled with a fourth part of the hin of beaten oil, and, as a drink-offering, a fourth part of the hin of wine, - with the one lamb.
This, shall they give - every one that passeth over to them that have been numbered - a half-shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary, - the shekel is twenty gerahs - the half-shekel, shalt be a heave-offering to Yahweh.
This, shall they give - every one that passeth over to them that have been numbered - a half-shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary, - the shekel is twenty gerahs - the half-shekel, shalt be a heave-offering to Yahweh.
This, shall they give - every one that passeth over to them that have been numbered - a half-shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary, - the shekel is twenty gerahs - the half-shekel, shalt be a heave-offering to Yahweh.
a bekah per head, that is a half shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, for all that passed over to them who had been numbered, from twenty years old and upwards, for six hundred and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.
And the bronze of the wave-offering, was seventy talents, - and two thousand and four hundred shekels.
But if his hand cannot lay hold of two turtledove, or two young pigeons, then shall he bring in as his oblation - because he hath sinned - the tenth of an ephah of fine meal for bearing sin, - he shall not put thereon oil, neither shall he lay thereon frankincense, for a sin-bearer, it is.
And, on the eighth day, he shall take two he-lambs, without defect, and one ewe-lamb, the choice of its year without defect, - and three-tenths of fine meal for a meal-offering, overflowed with oil, and one log of oil. And the priest that is cleansing him shall cause the man that is to be cleansed, and those things to stand before Yahweh, at the opening of the tent of meeting. read more. And the priest shall take one he-lamb, and bring him near as a guilt-bearer and the log of oil, - and shall wave them as a wave-offering, before Yahweh; and shall slay the lamb in the place where the sin-bearer and the ascending-sacrifice are slain, in the holy place, - for like the sin-bearer, the guilt-bearer, is the priests, most holy, it is. Then shall the priest take of the blood of the guilt-bearer, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, - and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot; and the priest shall take of the log of oil, - and shall pour it upon the palm of the priest's left hand, and the priest shall dip his right finger and take of the oil that is on the palm of his left hand, - and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh: and of the remainder of the oil which is on the palm of his hand, shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, - upon the blood of the guilt-bearer; and that which remaineth of the oil that is on the palm of the priest's hand, he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, - so shall the priest put a propitiatory-covering over him, before Yahweh. Then shall the priest offer the sin-bearer, and shall put a propitiatory-covering over him that is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, - and, afterwards, shall he slay the ascending-sacrifice. And the priest shall cause the ascending-sacrifice, and the meal-offering to ascend at the altar, - so shall the priest put a propitiatory-covering over him, and he shall be clean. But if he be poor and his hand hath not enough, then shall he take one he-lamb as a guilt-bearer to be waved to put a propitiatory-covering over him, - and one-tenth of fine meal, overflowed with oil for a meal-offering, and a log of oil, and two turtle-doves or two young pigeons, for which his hand hath enough, - so shall one be a sin-bearer, and the other an ascending-sacrifice. And he shall bring them in on the eighth day, for his cleansing, unto the priest, - unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, before Yahweh. Then shall the priest take the guilt-bearing lamb and the log of oil, - and the priest shall wave them as a wave-offering, before Yahweh.
And if of the field of his possession any man would hallow unto Yahweh, then shall thine estimate be according to the seed thereof, - the seed of a homer of barley, at fifty shekels of silver.
And, every estimate of thine, shall be by the holy shekel, - twenty gerahs, make the shekel.
thou shalt take five shekels apiece by the poll, - by the shekel of the sanctuary, shalt thou take it, twenty gerahs to the shekel;
And, as to the redemption price thereof, from a month old, shalt thou redeem, by thine estimate five shekels of silver by the shekel of the sanctuary, - twenty gerahs, it is.
When I saw among the spoil a certain goodly mantle of Babylonia and two hundred shekels of silver and a certain wedge of gold - fifty shekels the weight thereof, then I coveted them, then I took them, - and, there they are, hid in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
And, the bones of Joseph - which the sons of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in the portion of field, which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of money, - and they belonged unto the sons of Joseph, as an inheritance.
And the first smiting wherewith Jonathan and his armour-bearer smote, was about twenty men, - within, as it were, half a furrow's length of a yoke of land.
Then Abigail hastened - and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep made ready, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, - and put them on the asses.
And, the thickness thereof, was a hand breadth, and, the brim thereof, was like the brim-work of a cup, of lily-blossoms, - two thousand baths, did it contain.
And, the thickness thereof, was a hand breadth, and, the brim thereof, was like the brim-work of a cup, of lily-blossoms, - two thousand baths, did it contain.
and three hundred bucklers, of beaten gold, one hundred and fifty shekels of gold, laid he upon one buckler, - and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
and three hundred bucklers, of beaten gold, one hundred and fifty shekels of gold, laid he upon one buckler, - and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
And there came to be, a great famine, in Samaria, and lo! they continued the siege against it, - until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and one pint of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
And there came to be, a great famine, in Samaria, and lo! they continued the siege against it, - until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and one pint of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
and gave for the service of the house of God, of gold, five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and, of silver, ten thousand talents, and, of bronze, eighteen thousand talents, - and, of iron, one hundred thousand talents.
also three hundred bucklers of beaten gold, three hundred shekels of gold, overlay one buckler, - and the king placed them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
According to their ability, gave they unto the treasury of the work, of gold, sixty-one thousand drams, and, of silver, five thousand manehs, - and, tunics for priests, one hundred.
unto a hundred talents of silver, and unto a hundred measures of wheat, and unto a hundred baths of wine, and unto a hundred baths of oil, - and salt without limit.
and, some of the ancestral chiefs, gave unto the treasury of the work, of gold, twenty thousand darics, - and, of silver, two thousand and two hundred manehs; and, that which the rest of the people gave, was, of gold, twenty thousand darics, and, of silver, two thousand manehs, - and, tunics for priests, sixty-seven.
Then came unto him all his brethren and all his sisters, and all his former acquaintances, and they did eat bread with him in his house, - and shewed sympathy with him and comforted him, over all the calamity which Yahweh had brought upon him, - and they gave him, every one a weight of money, and every one, a ring of gold.
For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,
Now as for the pillars, eighteen cubits, was the height of each pillar, and, a line of twelve cubits, compassed it about, - and the thickness thereof was four fingers breadth - hollow;
And when he brought me thither, then lo! a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a flax-cord in his hand and measuring reed, - and he was standing in the gate. And the man spake unto me, saying. Son of man See with thine eyes And with thine ears, hear thou And apply thy heart to whatsoever I am about to show thee, For to the intent it might be shown thee, hast thou been brought hither,- Declare all that thou seest unto the house of Israel. read more. And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed. Then came he unto the gate that looked toward the east, and went up by the steps thereof, - and measured the threshold of the gate one reed bread, and the other threshold one reed broad. And the lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad, and between the lodges, was a space of five cubits, - and the threshold of the gate from beside the porch of the gate inwards, was one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate inwards, one read.
Then saw I that the house had a height round about on every side, - the foundations of the side- chambers, a full reed, six cubits to the joining.
and the shekel shall be twenty gerahs, - twenty shekels five and twenty shekels and fifteen shekels, the weight shall be to you.
and the shekel shall be twenty gerahs, - twenty shekels five and twenty shekels and fifteen shekels, the weight shall be to you.
and the shekel shall be twenty gerahs, - twenty shekels five and twenty shekels and fifteen shekels, the weight shall be to you.
And the statutory portion of oil shall be - per bath for oil - a tenth part of a bath out of a cot, which is ten baths even a homer; for ten baths are a homer.
So I secured n her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver, - and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
Who say, When will the new moon, pass away, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath that we may open grain? who diminish the ephah, and increase the shekel, and who falsify by deceitful weights:
And lo! a leaden disc uplifted, - and here a certain woman, sitting inside the ephah.
Neither light they a lamp, and place it under the measure; but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all that are in the house.
Verily, I say unto thee, In nowise, mayest thou come out from thence, until thou pay the last halfpenny.
And, whoever shall impress thee one mile, go with him two:
But who from among you, being anxious, can add to his stature one cubit?
Are not, two sparrows, for a farthing, sold? And, one from among them, shall not fall upon the ground, without your Father;
Another parable, spake he unto them: - The kingdom of the heavens is like, unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until, the whole, was leavened.
And, when they came into Capernaum, they who, the half shekel, were receiving, came near unto Peter, and said, Your teacher, doth he not pay the half shekel?
But, that we may not cause them to stumble, go unto the sea, and cast in a hook, and, the first fish that cometh up, take, and, opening its mouth, thou shalt find a shekel, - that, take, and give to them for me and thee.
And, when he, began, to settle, there was brought unto him a, certain, debtor, of a thousand talents;
and, when he had agreed with the labourers for a denary the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
But, he who the one had received, went away, and digged up ground, and hid the silver of his lord.
and said - What are ye willing to give unto me? and, I, unto you, will deliver him up. And they appointed him thirty pieces of silver.
and coming from market, unless they sprinkle themselves, they eat not, - and, many other things, there are, which they have accepted to hold fast - immersions of cups and measures and copper vessels - -
Having, dismissed, the commandment, of God, ye, hold fast, the tradition, of men.
And there came, one destitute, widow, and cast in two mites, which are, a farthing.
And, who from among you, though anxious, can, unto his stature, add a cubit?
Or, what woman, having, ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek carefully, until she find it?
Or, what woman, having, ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek carefully, until she find it? And, having found it, she calleth together her female friends and neighbours, saying - Rejoice with me! because I have found the piece of silver which I had lost.
And, having found it, she calleth together her female friends and neighbours, saying - Rejoice with me! because I have found the piece of silver which I had lost.
And, he, said - A hundred baths of oil. And, he, said unto him - Kindly take thine accounts, and, sitting down, make haste and write - Fifty! After that, unto another, he said - And how much owest, thou? And, he, said - A hundred homers of wheat. He saith unto him - Kindly take thine accounts, and write - Eighty!
And, calling ten servants of his own, he gave unto them ten minas, and said unto them - Do business, till I come. But, his citizens, hated him, and sent off an embassy after him, saying - We desire not, this, man, to be made king over us! read more. And it came to pass, when he returned, having received the kingdom, that he bade be called unto him these servants, to whom he had given the silver, that he might take note, what business they had done. And the first came near, saying - Lord! thy mina, hath made, ten minas. And he said to him - Well done! good servant. Because, in a very small thing, thou hast been, faithful, have thou authority over, ten cities. And the second came, saying - Thy mina, lord, hath made five minas. And he said, to him also, And, thou, be over five cities. And, the other, came, saying - Lord, lo! thy mina, which I kept lying by in a napkin; For I was afraid of thee, because, a harsh man, thou art, - Thou takest up, what thou layedst not down, and reapest, what thou sowedst not! He saith to him - Out of thy mouth, do I judge thee, O wicked servant! Thou knewest that, I, a harsh man, am, - taking up, what I laid not down, and reaping, what I did not sow; Wherefore, then, didst thou not place my silver upon a money-changer'stable, and, I, when I came, with interest might have exacted it? And, unto the by-standers, he said - Take, from him, the mina, and give unto him that hath, the ten minas; - And they said to him, Lord! he hath ten minas; -
And lo! two from among them, on the selfsame day, were journeying unto a village, distant sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, the name of which, was Emmaus;
Now there were there, six stone water-vessels, placed, according to the purification of the Jews; holding each, two or three measures.
Mary, therefore, taking a pound of pure nard perfume, very precious, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped, with her hair, his feet; and, the house, was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
There came, moreover, Nicodemus also, - he that came unto him by night at the first, - bearing a roll of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight.
but, the other disciples, came, by the little boat, - for they were not farther from the land than about two hundred cubits off, - dragging the net of fishes.
Then returned they into Jerusalem, from a mountain called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.
and, sounding, they found twenty fathoms, - and, going a little further, and again sounding, they found fifteen fathoms.
And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying - A quart of wheat for, a denary, and three quarts of barley, for a denary, - and, the oil and the wine, do not wrong.
And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying - A quart of wheat for, a denary, and three quarts of barley, for a denary, - and, the oil and the wine, do not wrong.
And, great hail, as talents, cometh down out of heaven upon mankind; and men blasphemed God, by reason of the plague of hail, - because the plague thereof was, exceeding great.
And he measured the wall thereof, - a hundred and forty-four cubits: the measure of a man, which is the measure of a messenger.
Smith
Weights and Measures.
A. WEIGHTS. --The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either directly or indirectly, from an eastern source. The older systems of ancient Greece and Persia were the AEginetan, the Attic, the Babylonian and the Euboic.
1. The AEginetan talent is stated to have contained 60 minae, 6000 drachme.
2. The Attic talent is the standard weight introduced by Solon.
3. The Babylonian talent may be determined from existing weights found by. Mr. Layard at Nineveh. Pollux makes it equal to 7000 Attic drachms.
4. The Euboic talent though bearing a Greek name, is rightly held to have been originally an eastern system. The proportion of the Euboic talent to the Babylonian was probably as 60 to 72, or 5 to
6. Taking the Babylonian maneh at 7992 grs., we obtain 399,600 for the Euboic talent. The principal if not the only Persian gold coin is the daric, weighing about 129 grs.
5. The Hebrew talent or talents and divisions. A talent of silver is mentioned in Exodus, which contained 3000 shekels, distinguished as "the holy shekel," or "shekel of the sanctuary." The gold talent contained 100 manehs, 10,000 shekels. The silver talent contained 3000 shekels, 6000 bekas, 60,000 gerahs. The significations of the names of the Hebrew weights must be here stated. The chief unit was the SHEKEL (i.e. weight), called also the holy shekel or shekel of the sanctuary; subdivided into the beka (i.e. half) or half-shekel, and the gerah (i.e. a grain or beka). The chief multiple, or higher unit, was the kikkar (i.e. circle or globe, probably for an aggregate sum), translated in our version, after the LXX., TALENT; (i.e. part, portion or number), a word used in Babylonian and in the Greek hena or mina.
See Shekel
See Talent
(1) The relations of these weights, as usually: employed for the standard of weighing silver, and their absolute values, determined from the extant silver coins, and confirmed from other sources, were as follows, in grains exactly and in avoirdupois weight approximately: (2) For gold a different shekel was used, probably of foreign introduction. Its value has been calculated at from 129 to 132 grains. The former value assimilates it to the Persian daric of the Babylonian standard. The talent of this system was just double that of the silver standard; if was divided into 100 manehs, and each maneh into 100 shekels, as follows: (3) There appears to have been a third standard for copper, namely, a shekel four times as heavy as the gold shekel (or 528 grains), 1500 of which made up the copper talent of 792,000 grains. It seems to have been subdivided, in the coinage, into halves (of 264 grains), quarters (of 132 grains) and sixths (of 88 grains). B. MEASURES.--
See Measures
I. MEASURES OF LENGTH. --In the Hebrew, as in every other system, these measures are of two classes: length, in the ordinary sense, for objects whose size we wish to determine, and distance, or itinerary measures, and the two are connected by some definite relation, more or less simple, between their units. The measures of the former class have been universally derived, in the first instance, from the parts of the human body; but it is remarkable that, in the Hebrew system, the only part used for this purpose is the hand and fore-arm, to the exclusion of the foot, which was the chief unit of the western nations. Hence arises the difficulty of determining the ratio of the foot to the CUBIT, (The Hebrew word for the cubit (ammah) appears to have been of Egyptian origin, as some of the measures of capacity (the hin and ephah) certainly were.) which appears as the chief Oriental unit from the very building of Noah's ark.
See Measures
See Cubit
The Hebrew lesser measures were the finger's breadth,
only; the palm or handbreadth,
used metaphorically in
the span, i.e. the full stretch between the tips of the thumb and the little finger.
and figuratively
The data for determining the actual length of the Mosaic cubit involve peculiar difficulties, and absolute certainty seems unattainable. The following, however, seem the most probable conclusions: First, that three cubits were used in the times of the Hebrew monarchy, namely : (1) The cubit of a man,
De 3:11
or the common cubit of Canaan (in contradistinction to the Mosaic cubit) of the Chaldean standard; (2) The old Mosaic or legal cubit, a handbreadth larger than the first, and agreeing with the smaller Egyptian cubit; (3) The new cubit, which was still larger, and agreed with the larger Egyptian cubit, of about 20.8 inches, used in the Nilometer. Second, that the ordinary cubit of the Bible did not come up to the full length of the cubit of other countries. The reed (kaneh), for measuring buildings (like the Roman decempeda), was to 6 cubits. It occurs only in Ezekiel
The values given In the following table are to be accepted with reservation, for want of greater certainty:
2. Of measures of distance the smallest is the pace, and the largest the day's journey. (a) The pace,
whether it be a single, like our pace, or double, like the Latin passus, is defined by nature within certain limits, its usual length being about 30 inches for the former and 5 feet for the latter. There is some reason to suppose that even before the Roman measurement of the roads of Palestine, the Jews had a mile of 1000 paces, alluded to in
It is said to have been single or double, according to the length of the pace; and hence the peculiar force of our Lord's saying: "Whosoever shall compel thee [as a courier] to go a mile, go with him twain" --put the most liberal construction on the demand. (b) The day's journey was the most usual method of calculating distances in travelling,
Ge 30:36; 31:23; Ex 3:18; 5:3; Nu 10:33; 11:31; 33:8; De 1:2; 1Ki 19:4; 2Ki 3:9; Jon 3:3
1 Macc. 5:24; 7:45; Tobit 6:1, though but one instance of it occurs in the New Testament
Lu 2:44
The ordinary day's journey among the Jews was 30 miles; but when they travelled in companies, only ten miles. Neapolis formed the first stage out of Jerusalem according to the former and Beeroth according to the latter computation, (a) The Sabbath day's journey of 2000 cubits,
is peculiar to the New Testament, and arose from a rabbinical restriction. It was founded on a universal, application of the prohibition given by Moses for a special occasion: "Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."
An exception was allowed for the purpose of worshipping at the tabernacle; and, as 2000 cubits was the prescribed space to be kept between the ark and the people as well as the extent of the suburbs of the Levitical cities on every side,
this was taken for the length of a Sabbath-day's journey measured front the wall of the city in which the traveller lived. Computed from the value given above for the cubit, the Sabbath-day's journey would be just six tenths of a mile. (d) After the captivity the relations of the Jews to the Persians, Greeks and Romans caused the use, probably, of the parasang, and certainly of the stadium and the mile. Though the first is not mentioned in the Bible, if is well to exhibit the ratios of the three. The universal Greek standard, the stadium of 600 Greek feet, which was the length of the race-course at Olympia, occurs first in the Maccabees, and is common in the New Testament. Our version renders it furlong; it being, in fact, the eighth part of the Roman mile, as the furlong is of ours. 2 Macc. 11:5; 12:9,17,29;
Lu 24:13; Joh 6:19; 11:18; Re 14:20; 21:18
One measure remains to be mentioned. The fathom, used in sounding by the Alexandrian mariners in a voyage, is the Greek orguia, i.e. the full stretch of the two arms from tip to tip of the middle finger, which is about equal to the height, and in a man of full stature is six feet. For estimating area, and especially land there is no evidence that the Jews used any special system of square measure
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And, this, is how thou shalt make it, - three hundred cubits, the length of the ark, fifty cubits, the breadth thereof, and thirty cubits the height thereof. A place for light, shalt thou make to the ark and to a cubit, shalt thou finish it upwards, and the opening of the ark - in the side thereof, shalt thou put, - with lower, second and third stories, shalt thou make it.
fifteen cubits upwards, prevailed the waters, so that the mountains became covered.
So Abraham hastened towards the tent unto Sarah, - and said, Hasten thou three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make hearth-cakes.
then put he a journey of three days between himself and Jacob, - but, Jacob himself, continued tending the flocks of Laban that were left.
So he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him a journey of seven days - and overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
So will they hearken to thy voice, - and thou shalt go in - thou, and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt and ye shall say unto him - Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, hath fallen in with us, Now, therefore let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the desert, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.
And they said, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us, - let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the desert and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword.
See because Yahweh hath given you the sabbath, for this cause, is, he, giving you on the sixth day, food for two days, - abide ye every man in his place, let no man go forth from his dwelling, on the seventh day,
Now, an omer, is, the tenth of the ephah.
and thou shalt make thereto a border of a handbreadth, round about, - and shalt make a rim of gold to the border thereof, round about;
Four-square, shall it be double, - a span the length thereof and a span the breadth thereof.
and a tenth part of fine meal mingled with a fourth part of the hin of beaten oil, and, as a drink-offering, a fourth part of the hin of wine, - with the one lamb.
and, cassia, five hundred, by the shekel of the sanctuary, - and, oil olive, a hin.
But if his hand cannot lay hold of two turtledove, or two young pigeons, then shall he bring in as his oblation - because he hath sinned - the tenth of an ephah of fine meal for bearing sin, - he shall not put thereon oil, neither shall he lay thereon frankincense, for a sin-bearer, it is.
This, is the oblation of Aaron and his sons, which they shall bring near unto Yahweh in the day when he is anointed, The tenth of an ephah of fine meal, as a continual meal-offering, - half thereof in the morning, and half thereof in the evening;
And, on the eighth day, he shall take two he-lambs, without defect, and one ewe-lamb, the choice of its year without defect, - and three-tenths of fine meal for a meal-offering, overflowed with oil, and one log of oil.
And if of the field of his possession any man would hallow unto Yahweh, then shall thine estimate be according to the seed thereof, - the seed of a homer of barley, at fifty shekels of silver.
then shall the man bring in his wife unto the priest, and shall bring in her offering for her, the tenth of an ephah of the meal of barley, - he shall not pour thereon oil, nor put thereon frankincense, for a jealousy gift, it is, a reminding gift bringing to mind iniquity.
So then they went forward, from the mountain of Yahweh, a journey of three days, - and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, was going before them a journey of three days, to search out for them a resting-place,
Now, a wind, had sprung up, from Yahweh, and cut off quails from the sea, and let them lie over the camp - as it were a days journey here and a days journey there, round about the amp, - and as it were two cubits on the face of the land. And the people rose up all that day and all the night and all the next day, and gathered the quails, he that did least, gathered ten homers, - and they spread them out for themselves spreading away, round about the camp.
then shall he that bringeth near his oblation bring near unto Yahweh a meal-offering, of fine meal a tenth part of an ephah overflowed with the fourth part of a hin of oil;
wine also, for a drink-offering, the third of a hin, shalt thou bring near as a satisfying odour unto Yahweh. And when thou wouldest offer a choice young bullock as an ascending-offering or sacrifice, - for celebrating a vow or as a peace-offering unto Yahweh,
also the tenth of an ephah of fine meal for a meal-offering, - overflowed with beaten oil the fourth of a hin:
And they brake up from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea towards the desert, - and went their way a journey of three days in the desert of Etham, and encamped in Marah.
And, the pasture lands of the cities which ye shall give unto the Levite, shall be, - from the wail of the city, and outwards, a thousand cubits round about So ye shall measure - on the outside of the city - the eastward quarter two thousand by the cubit, and the south quarter two thousand by the cubit, and the west quarter two thousand by the cubit and the north quarter two thousand by the cubit, with, the city, in the midst. This, shall be unto them the pasture lands of the cities,
So ye shall measure - on the outside of the city - the eastward quarter two thousand by the cubit, and the south quarter two thousand by the cubit, and the west quarter two thousand by the cubit and the north quarter two thousand by the cubit, with, the city, in the midst. This, shall be unto them the pasture lands of the cities,
eleven days from Horeb, by way of Mount Seir, as far as Kadesh-barnea.
For, only Og, king of Bashan was left remaining of the remnant of the giants, lo! his bedstead, was a bedstead of iron, is not, the same, in Rabbath of the sons of Ammon? nine cubits, the length thereof and four cubits, the breadth thereof, by the fore-arm of a man.
So, Gideon, went in, and made ready a kid of the goats, and, of an ephah of meal, unleavened cakes, the flesh, he put in a basket, and, the broth, he put in a pot, - and brought them forth unto him, under the oak, and presented them.
So she gleaned in the field, until the evening, - and beat out that which she had gleaned, and there was about an ephah of barley.
And so it was that, when they who bare the ark of Yahweh had stepped forward six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a heifer.
And it came to pass, that Solomon's provision for one day was, - thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal;
and, Solomon, gave unto Hiram, twenty thousand measures of wheat, as food for his household, and twenty measures of beaten oil, - thus, used Solomon on to give unto Hiram, year by year.
And, the thickness thereof, was a hand breadth, and, the brim thereof, was like the brim-work of a cup, of lily-blossoms, - two thousand baths, did it contain.
Then made he ten lavers of bronze, - forty baths, would each laver contain, four cubits, was each laver, one laver, was on each of, the ten stands.
And there came to be, a great famine, in Samaria, and lo! they continued the siege against it, - until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and one pint of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
unto a hundred talents of silver, and unto a hundred measures of wheat, and unto a hundred baths of wine, and unto a hundred baths of oil, - and salt without limit.
unto a hundred talents of silver, and unto a hundred measures of wheat, and unto a hundred baths of wine, and unto a hundred baths of oil, - and salt without limit.
Lo! as hand-breadths, hast thou granted my days, and my life-time, is as nothing before thee, - Surely, a mere breath, are all men, even such as stand firm. Selah.
For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,
For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,
Who hath measured, with the hollow of his hand, the waters. Or the heavens with a span, hath meted out, Or hath comprehended, in a measure, the dust of the earth, Or weighed, in scales, the mountains, Or the hills, in a balance?
Now as for the pillars, eighteen cubits, was the height of each pillar, and, a line of twelve cubits, compassed it about, - and the thickness thereof was four fingers breadth - hollow;
and water by measure, shalt thou drink the sixth part of a hin,-from time to time shalt thou drink;
And lo a wall on the outside of the house round about on every side, - and in the hand of the man, was the measuring reed six cubits by the cubit, and a handbreadth, so he measured the breadth of the enclosing-wall, one reed, and the height one reed. Then came he unto the gate that looked toward the east, and went up by the steps thereof, - and measured the threshold of the gate one reed bread, and the other threshold one reed broad. read more. And the lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad, and between the lodges, was a space of five cubits, - and the threshold of the gate from beside the porch of the gate inwards, was one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate inwards, one read.
And a gate, had the inner court towards the south, - so he measured from gate to gate toward the south, a hundred cubits.
Then saw I that the house had a height round about on every side, - the foundations of the side- chambers, a full reed, six cubits to the joining.
Then saw I that the house had a height round about on every side, - the foundations of the side- chambers, a full reed, six cubits to the joining.
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, - five hundred reeds by the measuring reed round about,
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, - five hundred reeds by the measuring reed round about, He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, by the measuring reed round about.
He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, by the measuring reed round about. The south side, measured he, - five hundred reeds, by the measuring reed.
The south side, measured he, - five hundred reeds, by the measuring reed. He turned about to the west side, - he measured five hundred reeds, by the measuring reed.
He turned about to the west side, - he measured five hundred reeds, by the measuring reed. Toward the four winds, measured he it a wall, had it round about on every side, in length, five hundred, and in breadth five hundred, - to make a separation, between the holy and the common.
And these, shall be the measures of the altar, in cubits, a cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth; and the hollow, shall be a cubit, and a cubit the breadth, and the boundary thereof unto the edge thereof round about shall he a single span. And this, shall he the upper part of the altar,
the ephah and the bath of one fixed measure, shall be, to contain the tenth of a homer, the bath, - and the tenth of a homer, the ephah, unto the homer, shall be the proportion thereof;
This is the heave-offering which ye shall offer up,- the sixth of an ephah, out of a homer of wheat, and the sixth of an ephah, out of a homer of barley;
This is the heave-offering which ye shall offer up,- the sixth of an ephah, out of a homer of wheat, and the sixth of an ephah, out of a homer of barley; And the statutory portion of oil shall be - per bath for oil - a tenth part of a bath out of a cot, which is ten baths even a homer; for ten baths are a homer.
and the meal-offering shall be an ephah to a ram, and to the he-lambs, the meal-offering shall be as one is able to give, - and of, a hin to an ephah.
and an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, shall he offer as a meal-offering, and for the he-lambs, just as his hand shall attain unto, - and of oil a hin to an ephah.
And in the festivals and in the appointed feasts, the meal-offering! shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, but to the he-lambs, as one is able to give, - and of oil a hin to an ephah.
And a meal-offering, shalt thou offer thereupon morning by morning, of the sixth of an ephah and of, the third part of an hin to moisten the fine meal, - a meal-offering to Yahweh, age-abiding statutes continually.
So I secured n her to me, for fifteen pieces of silver, - and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley;
Neither light they a lamp, and place it under the measure; but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all that are in the house.
And, whoever shall impress thee one mile, go with him two:
Another parable, spake he unto them: - The kingdom of the heavens is like, unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until, the whole, was leavened.
And he was saying unto them - Doth the lamp come that under the measure it should be put, or under the couch? Is it not that upon the lampstand it may be put?
and coming from market, unless they sprinkle themselves, they eat not, - and, many other things, there are, which they have accepted to hold fast - immersions of cups and measures and copper vessels - -
Having, dismissed, the commandment, of God, ye, hold fast, the tradition, of men.
No one, having lighted, a lamp, into a covered place, a putteth it, nor, under the measure; but upon the lampstand, that they who enter may see, the light.
It is, like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until, the whole, was leavened.
After that, unto another, he said - And how much owest, thou? And, he, said - A hundred homers of wheat. He saith unto him - Kindly take thine accounts, and write - Eighty!
And lo! two from among them, on the selfsame day, were journeying unto a village, distant sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, the name of which, was Emmaus;
Now there were there, six stone water-vessels, placed, according to the purification of the Jews; holding each, two or three measures.
Now there were there, six stone water-vessels, placed, according to the purification of the Jews; holding each, two or three measures.
Having therefore rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, they observe Jesus, walking upon the sea, and, near the boat, coming; and they were affrighted.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off;
Then returned they into Jerusalem, from a mountain called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.
And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying - A quart of wheat for, a denary, and three quarts of barley, for a denary, - and, the oil and the wine, do not wrong.
And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying - A quart of wheat for, a denary, and three quarts of barley, for a denary, - and, the oil and the wine, do not wrong.
And the wine-press was trodden outside the city, and there came forth blood out of the wine-press, even unto the bits of the horses, at a distance of a thousand six hundred furlongs.
And, the city, four-square, lieth, and, the length thereof, is as great as the breadth. And he measured the city, with the reed, - twelve thousand furlongs: the length, and the breadth, and the height thereof, are, equal.
And, the structure of the wall thereof, was jasper, and, the city, was pure gold, like unto pure glass.