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 Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and he clothed them.
and Abel also brought [an offering] from {the choicest firstlings of his flock}. And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering,
If you do well {will I not accept you}? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire [is] for you, but you must rule over it."
Then Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and he said, "Quickly--make three seahs of fine flour for kneading and make bread cakes!"
Then they journeyed from Bethel. And {when they were still some distance} from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. And she had hard labor.
As for me, when I came to Paddan-Aram Rachel died {to my sorrow} in the land of Canaan on the way when [there was] still some distance to go to Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that [is], Bethlehem)."
So God led the people around [by] the way of the desert [to] the {Red Sea}, and the {Israelites} went up in battle array from the land of Egypt.
This [is] the word that Yahweh commanded, 'Gather from it, {each according to what he can eat}, an omer per person [according to] the number of you. You each shall take [enough] for whoever [is] in his tent.'"
And Moses said to Aaron, "Take one jar and put there a full omer of manna. Leave it before Yahweh for safekeeping for your generations." As Yahweh had commanded Moses, so Aaron left it before the testimony for safekeeping.
This they will give, {everyone who is counted}, the half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, [which is] twenty gerahs per shekel. The half shekel [is] a contribution for Yahweh.
[It was] a bekah for the individual, the half shekel according to the sanctuary shekel, for {everyone who was counted}, from {twenty years old} and above, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
And the bronze of the wave offering [was] seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.
"When a person {displays infidelity} and he sins in an unintentional wrong {in any of} Yahweh's holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh: a ram without defect from the flock as a guilt offering by your valuation [in] silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel.
"Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When you come to the land that I [am about] to give to you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest.
you will receive five shekels a person, in the sanctuary shekel; you will collect twenty gerahs [per] shekel.
Then a wind set out from Yahweh, and it drove quails from the west, and he spread [them] out on the camp about a day's journey on one side and about a day's journey on the other, all around the camp, about two cubits on the surface of the land.
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold [that] weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They [are] hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver [is] under it."
When he shaved his head, it would happen {every year}, which he did because [it was] heavy on him, he would shave it off and weigh the hair of his head: two hundred shekels {by the king's weight}.
Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh [was] sixty cubits [in] its length and twenty cubits [in] its width and thirty cubits [in] its height.
There was not [anything] in the ark {except} the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh {made} [a covenant] with the {Israelites} after they went out from the land of Egypt.
Also [he made] three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them [into] the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.
On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when [the] morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Look, you have made my days [mere] handbreadths, and my lifespan as nothing next to you. Surely every person standing firm [is] complete vanity. Selah
Who has measured [the] waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off [the] heavens with span, comprehended the dust of the earth in third of a measure and weighed out [the] mountains in the scales, and [the] hills in a balance?
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
And I saw for the temple a platform {all the way around} the foundations of the side rooms; [it was] the length of a full reed, six cubits long.
And these [are] the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter {is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width} and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this [is] [also] the height of the altar.
The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement; the tenth part of the homer [is] the bath, and the tenth of the homer [is] the ephah; [so] the homer shall be its unit of measurement.
The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement; the tenth part of the homer [is] the bath, and the tenth of the homer [is] the ephah; [so] the homer shall be its unit of measurement. And the shekel [shall weigh] twenty gerahs, twenty shekels and five and twenty shekels [and] ten and five shekels, [that] shall make the mina for you.
And the quota of the olive oil, the bath [of] the olive oil, [is] the tenth part of a bath from a kor, [which] [is] ten baths, [or] a homer--for ten baths [are equal to] a homer.
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.
saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make [the] ephah small and make [the] shekel large, and can practice deceit [with] a set of scales of deceit?
'Who [are] you O great mountain? {Before} Zerubbabel [you will become] level ground, and he will bring out the top stone amid the shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" '"
nor do they light a lamp and place it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house.
And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took [and] put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole [batch] was leavened."
Now [when] they arrived in Capernaum, the ones who collected the double drachma [tax] came up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the double drachma [tax]?"
And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other [traditions] which they have received [and] hold fast to--[for example,] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?" read more. So he said to them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. And they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.' Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men."
And he said, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' So he said to him, 'Take your promissory note and sit down quickly [and] write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your promissory note and write eighty.'
And behold, on [that] same day, two of them were traveling to a village {named} Emmaus [that was] sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem,
And they were {continually} in the temple [courts] praising God.
Now six stone water jars were set there, in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.
Consequently, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God,
By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain, by which he was approved that he was righteous, [because] God approved [him] for his gifts, and through it he still speaks, [although he] is dead.
And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits {according to human measure}, which is the angel's.
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 happened [that] as the camels finished drinking the man took a gold ring of a half shekel in weight and two bracelets for her arms, ten shekels in weight,
And he put a journey of three days between him and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the remainder of Laban's flock.
Then they journeyed from Bethel. And {when they were still some distance} from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. And she had hard labor.
As for me, when I came to Paddan-Aram Rachel died {to my sorrow} in the land of Canaan on the way when [there was] still some distance to go to Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that [is], Bethlehem)."
See, because Yahweh has given to you the Sabbath, therefore he is giving to you on the sixth day bread for two days. Stay, {each in his location}; let no one go from his place on the seventh day."
It will be squared, doubled, a span its length and a span its width.
This they will give, {everyone who is counted}, the half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, [which is] twenty gerahs per shekel. The half shekel [is] a contribution for Yahweh.
"And take for yourself top quality balsam oils, five hundred [shekels of] flowing myrrh, half [as much]--two hundred and fifty [shekels of] fragrant cinnamon, and two hundred and fifty [shekels of] fragrant reed, and five hundred [shekels of] cassia, according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil.
And all the gold used for the work, in the work of the sanctuary, it was the gold of the wave offering--twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. And the silver recorded from the community [was] a hundred talents and a thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. read more. [It was] a bekah for the individual, the half shekel according to the sanctuary shekel, for {everyone who was counted}, from {twenty years old} and above, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
It was squared; they made the breast piece doubled; its length [was] a span, and its width [was] a span [when] doubled.
And he shall bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and he shall take {his handful from its finely milled flour} and from its oil in addition to all its frankincense. The priest shall turn its token portion into smoke on the altar [as] an offering made [by] fire, [as] an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.
"And on the eighth day he must take two male lambs without defect and one ewe-lamb {in its first year} without defect and three-tenths [of an ephah] of finely milled flour mixed with oil [as] a grain offering and one log of oil.
Then the priest shall take the one male lamb, and he shall present it as a guilt offering, and the log of oil, and he shall wave them [as] a wave offering {before} Yahweh.
You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin; I [am] Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.
" 'And if a man consecrates {some of} his property's fields for Yahweh, then your proper value shall be {in accordance with its seed requirements}: a homer of barley seed for fifty shekels of money.
And every proper value of yours shall be in the sanctuary's shekel--the shekel shall be twenty gerahs.
And so they set out from the mountain of Yahweh a journey of three days, with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh setting out ahead of them three days' journey to search out a resting place for them;
Then a wind set out from Yahweh, and it drove quails from the west, and he spread [them] out on the camp about a day's journey on one side and about a day's journey on the other, all around the camp, about two cubits on the surface of the land.
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
Ehud made for himself a short, {two-edged} sword (a cubit in length), and he fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh.
So was the first attack [in] which Jonathan and {his armor bearer} killed about twenty men within about half of a furrow in an acre of [an] open field.
It happened [that] when the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had marched six steps that he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
When he shaved his head, it would happen {every year}, which he did because [it was] heavy on him, he would shave it off and weigh the hair of his head: two hundred shekels {by the king's weight}.
Its thickness [was] a handbreadth, but its rim [was] as the work on the brim of a cup, [like the] bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
Also [he made] three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them [into] the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
With them, he built an altar in the name of Yahweh, and he made a trench {which would have held} about two seahs of seed, all around the altar.
There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.
There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.
Now these [were] the measurements of Solomon for building the house of God: the length in cubits by the former measurement [was] sixty cubits, and the width [was] twenty cubits.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.
And {the measuring line} will still go out immediately in front [of] it to the hill of Gareb, and it will turn [to] Goah.
Now the pillars, [the] height of one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness [was] four fingers, hollowed out.
Now the pillars, [the] height of one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness [was] four fingers, hollowed out.
And he brought me there, and look, there was a man whose appearance [was] like [the] appearance of bronze, and a cord of linen [was] in his hand and a reed for measurement; [he] was standing in the gate.
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
And [there were] double-pronged hooks, one handbreadth [in width], put in place in the house all around, and on the tables [was] the flesh of the offering.
And these [are] the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter {is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width} and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this [is] [also] the height of the altar.
And these [are] the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter {is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width} and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this [is] [also] the height of the altar.
The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement; the tenth part of the homer [is] the bath, and the tenth of the homer [is] the ephah; [so] the homer shall be its unit of measurement.
The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement; the tenth part of the homer [is] the bath, and the tenth of the homer [is] the ephah; [so] the homer shall be its unit of measurement. And the shekel [shall weigh] twenty gerahs, twenty shekels and five and twenty shekels [and] ten and five shekels, [that] shall make the mina for you. read more. This [is] the contribution [offering] which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a homer of wheat, and a sixth of the ephah from a homer of barley. And the quota of the olive oil, the bath [of] the olive oil, [is] the tenth part of a bath from a kor, [which] [is] ten baths, [or] a homer--for ten baths [are equal to] a homer.
And the quota of the olive oil, the bath [of] the olive oil, [is] the tenth part of a bath from a kor, [which] [is] ten baths, [or] a homer--for ten baths [are equal to] a homer.
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.
And Jonah began to go into the city a journey of one day, and he cried out and said, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be demolished!"
nor do they light a lamp and place it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house.
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took [and] put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole [batch] was leavened."
And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other [traditions] which they have received [and] hold fast to--[for example,] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)
but believing him to be in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. And they began searching for him among [their] relatives and [their] acquaintances,
Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your promissory note and write eighty.'
And summoning ten of his own slaves, he gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business {until I come back}.'
And behold, on [that] same day, two of them were traveling to a village {named} Emmaus [that was] sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem,
Now six stone water jars were set there, in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.
Then Mary took a pound of ointment of very valuable genuine nard [and] anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
Then Mary took a pound of ointment of very valuable genuine nard [and] anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
And Nicodemus--the one who had come to him formerly at night--also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes [weighing] about a hundred pounds.
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain that is called Olive Grove which is near Jerusalem, {a Sabbath day's journey away}.
And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
And large hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds, came down from the sky upon people, and the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, because the plague of it was very great.
And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits {according to human measure}, which is the angel's.
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 you must make it: the length of the ark, three hundred cubits; its width fifty cubits; its height, thirty cubits.
"My lord, hear me. A [piece of] land [worth] four hundred shekels of silver--what [is] that between me and you? Bury your dead."
"My lord, hear me. A [piece of] land [worth] four hundred shekels of silver--what [is] that between me and you? Bury your dead." Then Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver {at the merchants' current rate}.
Then Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver {at the merchants' current rate}.
And it happened [that] as the camels finished drinking the man took a gold ring of a half shekel in weight and two bracelets for her arms, ten shekels in weight,
And he bought a piece of land where he pitched his tent for one hundred pieces of money from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem.
And he bought a piece of land where he pitched his tent for one hundred pieces of money from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem.
This [is] the word that Yahweh commanded, 'Gather from it, {each according to what he can eat}, an omer per person [according to] the number of you. You each shall take [enough] for whoever [is] in his tent.'"
(And an omer [is] a tenth of an ephah.)
It will be made [from] a talent of pure gold, with all these [pieces of] equipment.
It will be squared, doubled, a span its length and a span its width.
And a tenth of finely milled flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a libation with the first lamb.
And a tenth of finely milled flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a libation with the first lamb.
This they will give, {everyone who is counted}, the half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, [which is] twenty gerahs per shekel. The half shekel [is] a contribution for Yahweh.
This they will give, {everyone who is counted}, the half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, [which is] twenty gerahs per shekel. The half shekel [is] a contribution for Yahweh.
This they will give, {everyone who is counted}, the half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, [which is] twenty gerahs per shekel. The half shekel [is] a contribution for Yahweh.
[It was] a bekah for the individual, the half shekel according to the sanctuary shekel, for {everyone who was counted}, from {twenty years old} and above, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
And the bronze of the wave offering [was] seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.
" 'But if {he cannot afford} two turtledoves or two {young doves}, then, because he has sinned, he shall bring [as] his offering a tenth of an ephah [of] finely milled flour as a sin offering. He must not put oil on it, nor should he put frankincense on it, because it [is] a sin offering.
"And on the eighth day he must take two male lambs without defect and one ewe-lamb {in its first year} without defect and three-tenths [of an ephah] of finely milled flour mixed with oil [as] a grain offering and one log of oil. And the priest who cleanses [him] shall present the man who presents himself for cleansing and {these things} {before} the tent of assembly's entrance. read more. Then the priest shall take the one male lamb, and he shall present it as a guilt offering, and the log of oil, and he shall wave them [as] a wave offering {before} Yahweh. And he shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where he slaughters the sin offering and the burnt offering in the sanctuary's space, because as the sin offering belongs to the priest, so [also] the guilt offering--{it is a most holy thing}. And the priest shall take {some of} the guilt offering's blood, and the priest shall put [it] on the right ear's lobe of the one who presents himself for cleansing and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe. And the priest shall take {some of} the log of oil, and he shall pour [it] on his left palm; and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that [is] on his left palm, and he shall spatter {some of} the oil with his finger seven times {before} Yahweh. Then the priest shall put {some of} the remaining oil, which [is] on his palm, on the right ear's lobe of the one to be cleansed and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe, on [top of] the guilt offering's blood. And the remaining oil that [is] on the priest's palm he shall put on the head of the one who presents himself for cleansing, and the priest shall make atonement for him {before} Yahweh. Thus the priest shall {sacrifice} the sin offering, and he shall make atonement for the one who presents himself for cleansing from his uncleanness, and afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering. Then the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and so he shall be clean. "But if he [is] poor and {he cannot afford} [it], then he shall take one male lamb [for] a guilt offering as a wave offering to make atonement for himself and one-tenth [of an ephah] of finely milled flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil, and two turtledoves or two {young doves} that {he can afford}, and one shall be a sin offering and the {other} a burnt offering. And he shall bring them to the priest at the tent of assembly's entrance {before} Yahweh on the eighth day for his cleansing. And the priest shall take the male lamb [for] the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them [as] a wave offering {before} Yahweh;
" 'And if a man consecrates {some of} his property's fields for Yahweh, then your proper value shall be {in accordance with its seed requirements}: a homer of barley seed for fifty shekels of money.
And every proper value of yours shall be in the sanctuary's shekel--the shekel shall be twenty gerahs.
you will receive five shekels a person, in the sanctuary shekel; you will collect twenty gerahs [per] shekel.
As to their price of redemption, from {a one-month-old} you will redeem them according to your proper value, five shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerah.
I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold [that] weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They [are] hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver [is] under it."
The bones of Jacob, which the {Israelites} had brought out from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a piece of land that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money; it became [an] inheritance for the descendants of Joseph.
So was the first attack [in] which Jonathan and {his armor bearer} killed about twenty men within about half of a furrow in an acre of [an] open field.
Then Abigail {quickly took} two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put [them] on the donkeys.
Its thickness [was] a handbreadth, but its rim [was] as the work on the brim of a cup, [like the] bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
Its thickness [was] a handbreadth, but its rim [was] as the work on the brim of a cup, [like the] bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
Also [he made] three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them [into] the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
Also [he made] three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them [into] the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.
There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.
And they gave for the service of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.
And [he made] three hundred small shields of beaten gold; three hundred [shekels] went into each small shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
According to their ability they gave to the treasury room for the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly tunics.
up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred measures of wheat, one hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and {unlimited salt}.
Now some of the heads of the {families} gave to the storehouse of the work twenty thousand gold darics and two thousand two hundred silver minas. And what the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly tunics.
So all his brothers and all his sisters and all [those who] had known him {before} came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house and showed sympathy to him and comforted him for all the disaster that Yahweh had brought upon him. Then each one gave to him one piece of money, and each one [gave to him] one ornamental ring of gold.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.
Now the pillars, [the] height of one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness [was] four fingers, hollowed out.
And he brought me there, and look, there was a man whose appearance [was] like [the] appearance of bronze, and a cord of linen [was] in his hand and a reed for measurement; [he] was standing in the gate. And the man spoke to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and listen with your ears and apply your heart to all that I [am] showing you, for you were brought here in order to show you [this]; tell all that you [are] seeing to the house of Israel." read more. And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed. And [then] he went toward [the] gate whose face [was] {to the east}. And he went up by its steps, and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide. And the alcove [was] one reed long and one reed wide, and between the alcoves [was] five cubits, and the threshold of the gate along the side of the portico of the gate {on the inside} [was] one reed. And [then] he measured the portico of the gate {on the inside} [as] one reed.
And I saw for the temple a platform {all the way around} the foundations of the side rooms; [it was] the length of a full reed, six cubits long.
And the shekel [shall weigh] twenty gerahs, twenty shekels and five and twenty shekels [and] ten and five shekels, [that] shall make the mina for you.
And the shekel [shall weigh] twenty gerahs, twenty shekels and five and twenty shekels [and] ten and five shekels, [that] shall make the mina for you.
And the shekel [shall weigh] twenty gerahs, twenty shekels and five and twenty shekels [and] ten and five shekels, [that] shall make the mina for you.
And the quota of the olive oil, the bath [of] the olive oil, [is] the tenth part of a bath from a kor, [which] [is] ten baths, [or] a homer--for ten baths [are equal to] a homer.
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.
saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make [the] ephah small and make [the] shekel large, and can practice deceit [with] a set of scales of deceit?
And look, the lead cover was lifted and a woman [was] sitting inside the basket.
nor do they light a lamp and place it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house.
Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!
And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.
And who among you, [by] being anxious, is able to add one hour to his life span?
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And one of them will not fall to the ground {without the knowledge and consent} of your Father.
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took [and] put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole [batch] was leavened."
Now [when] they arrived in Capernaum, the ones who collected the double drachma [tax] came up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the double drachma [tax]?"
But so that we do not give offense to them, go out to the sea, cast [a line with] a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And [when you] open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take that [and] give [it] to them for me and you."
And [when] he began to settle [them], someone was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents.
And [after] coming to an agreement with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard.
But the one who had received the one went away [and] dug up the ground and hid his master's money.
[and] said, "What are you willing to give me if I in turn deliver him to you?" So they set out for him thirty silver coins.
And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other [traditions] which they have received [and] hold fast to--[for example,] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)
Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men."
And one poor widow came [and] put in two small copper coins (that is, a penny).
And which of you [by] being anxious is able to add an hour to his life span?
Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds [it]?
Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds [it]? And [when she] has found [it], she calls together [her] friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma that I had lost!'
And [when she] has found [it], she calls together [her] friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma that I had lost!'
And he said, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' So he said to him, 'Take your promissory note and sit down quickly [and] write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your promissory note and write eighty.'
And summoning ten of his own slaves, he gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business {until I come back}.' But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to be king over us!' read more. And it happened that when he returned [after] receiving the kingdom, he ordered these slaves to whom he had given the money to be summoned to him, so that he could know what they had gained by trading. So the first arrived, saying, 'Sir, your mina has made ten minas more!' And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small thing, {have authority} over ten cities.' And the second came, saying, 'Sir, your mina has made five minas.' So he said to this one also, 'And you be over five cities.' And another came, saying, 'Sir, behold your mina, which I had put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man--you withdraw what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow!' He said to him, '{By your own words} I will judge you, wicked slave! You knew that I am a severe man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. And why did you not give my money to the bank, and I, [when I] returned, would have collected it with interest?' And to the bystanders he said, 'Take away from him the mina and give [it] to the one who has the ten minas!' And they said to him, 'Sir, he has ten minas.'
And behold, on [that] same day, two of them were traveling to a village {named} Emmaus [that was] sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem,
Now six stone water jars were set there, in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.
Then Mary took a pound of ointment of very valuable genuine nard [and] anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
And Nicodemus--the one who had come to him formerly at night--also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes [weighing] about a hundred pounds.
But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net of fish, because they were not far from the land, but about two hundred cubits away.
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain that is called Olive Grove which is near Jerusalem, {a Sabbath day's journey away}.
And taking soundings, they found twenty fathoms. So going on a little [further] and taking soundings again, they found fifteen fathoms.
And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
And large hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds, came down from the sky upon people, and the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, because the plague of it was very great.
And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits {according to human measure}, which is the angel's.
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 you must make it: the length of the ark, three hundred cubits; its width fifty cubits; its height, thirty cubits. You must make a roof for the ark, and {finish it to a cubit above}. And [as for] the door of the ark, you must put [it] in its side. You must make it [with] a lower, second, and a third [deck].
{The waters swelled fifteen cubits above the mountains, covering them}.
Then Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and he said, "Quickly--make three seahs of fine flour for kneading and make bread cakes!"
And he put a journey of three days between him and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the remainder of Laban's flock.
Then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued after him, a seven-day journey, and he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.
And they will listen to your voice, and you will go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now let us please go [on] a journey of three days into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God.'
And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go [on] a three-day journey into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he strike us with plague or with sword."
See, because Yahweh has given to you the Sabbath, therefore he is giving to you on the sixth day bread for two days. Stay, {each in his location}; let no one go from his place on the seventh day."
(And an omer [is] a tenth of an ephah.)
And you will make for it a handbreadth rim all around, and you will make a gold molding for its rim all around.
It will be squared, doubled, a span its length and a span its width.
And a tenth of finely milled flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a libation with the first lamb.
and five hundred [shekels of] cassia, according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil.
" 'But if {he cannot afford} two turtledoves or two {young doves}, then, because he has sinned, he shall bring [as] his offering a tenth of an ephah [of] finely milled flour as a sin offering. He must not put oil on it, nor should he put frankincense on it, because it [is] a sin offering.
"This is the offering of Aaron and his sons that they shall present to Yahweh on the day of his being anointed: a tenth of an ephah of finely milled flour [as] a perpetual grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.
"And on the eighth day he must take two male lambs without defect and one ewe-lamb {in its first year} without defect and three-tenths [of an ephah] of finely milled flour mixed with oil [as] a grain offering and one log of oil.
" 'And if a man consecrates {some of} his property's fields for Yahweh, then your proper value shall be {in accordance with its seed requirements}: a homer of barley seed for fifty shekels of money.
he will bring his wife to the priest. And he will bring her offering for her, one-tenth of an ephah of flour. He will not pour oil on it, and he will not put frankincense on it because [it is] a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembering, a reminding of guilt.
And so they set out from the mountain of Yahweh a journey of three days, with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh setting out ahead of them three days' journey to search out a resting place for them;
Then a wind set out from Yahweh, and it drove quails from the west, and he spread [them] out on the camp about a day's journey on one side and about a day's journey on the other, all around the camp, about two cubits on the surface of the land. And so the people {worked} all day and all night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail (the least of the ones collecting gathered ten homers).
And the one who presents an offering for Yahweh, he will present a grain offering [of] finely milled flour; a tenth will be mixed with a fourth of the liquid measure [of] oil;
You will present a third of the liquid measure of wine for the libation, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh. When you prepare {a bull} as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or fellowship offering for Yahweh,
and a tenth of an ephah of finely milled flour as a grain offering, mixed with a fourth of a measure of beaten oil.
They set out from Pi-Hahiroth and went through the midst of the sea into the desert; and they went a journey of three days into the desert of Etham and camped at Marah.
"The pasturelands of the cities that you will give to the Levites [will extend] from the wall of the city to [a distance of] a thousand cubits all around. You will measure outside the city the eastern edge two thousand cubits, for the southern edge two thousand cubits, for the western edge two thousand cubits, and for the northern edge two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.
You will measure outside the city the eastern edge two thousand cubits, for the southern edge two thousand cubits, for the western edge two thousand cubits, and for the northern edge two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.
It is [a journey of] {eleven days} from Herob {by the way of Mount Seir} up to Kadesh Barnea.
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
And Gideon went and prepared {a young goat} and unleavened cakes [from] an ephah of flour; he put meat in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and he brought [them] to him under the oak and presented [them].
So she gleaned in the field until the evening and she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah [of] barley.
It happened [that] when the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had marched six steps that he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour;
Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat [as] food for his household, and twenty dry measures of {specially prepared olive oil}; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.
Its thickness [was] a handbreadth, but its rim [was] as the work on the brim of a cup, [like the] bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
He also made ten bronze basins, [each] holding forty baths; each basin [was] four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands.
There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.
up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred measures of wheat, one hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and {unlimited salt}.
up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred measures of wheat, one hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and {unlimited salt}.
Look, you have made my days [mere] handbreadths, and my lifespan as nothing next to you. Surely every person standing firm [is] complete vanity. Selah
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.
Who has measured [the] waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off [the] heavens with span, comprehended the dust of the earth in third of a measure and weighed out [the] mountains in the scales, and [the] hills in a balance?
Now the pillars, [the] height of one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness [was] four fingers, hollowed out.
And {an amount of water} you shall drink, a sixth of a hin; {at fixed times} you shall drink [it].
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed. And [then] he went toward [the] gate whose face [was] {to the east}. And he went up by its steps, and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide. read more. And the alcove [was] one reed long and one reed wide, and between the alcoves [was] five cubits, and the threshold of the gate along the side of the portico of the gate {on the inside} [was] one reed. And [then] he measured the portico of the gate {on the inside} [as] one reed.
And [there was] [to] the way of the south a gate for the inner courtyard, and he measured from gate to the gate [on] the way of the south, hundred cubits.
And I saw for the temple a platform {all the way around} the foundations of the side rooms; [it was] the length of a full reed, six cubits long.
And I saw for the temple a platform {all the way around} the foundations of the side rooms; [it was] the length of a full reed, six cubits long.
He measured the east side with the reed for measuring, five hundred cubits, with [respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement, [he measured it] all around.
He measured the east side with the reed for measuring, five hundred cubits, with [respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement, [he measured it] all around. He measured the north side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement all around.
He measured the north side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement all around. [Then] he measured the south side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement.
[Then] he measured the south side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement. He went around the west side [and] he measured five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement.
He went around the west side [and] he measured five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement. {Toward the four sides} he measured it; [there] [was] a wall for it {all the way around}. [Its] length [was] five hundred [cubits] and [its] width [was] five hundred [cubits], in order to make separation between what is holy and what is common.
And these [are] the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter {is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width} and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this [is] [also] the height of the altar.
The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement; the tenth part of the homer [is] the bath, and the tenth of the homer [is] the ephah; [so] the homer shall be its unit of measurement.
This [is] the contribution [offering] which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a homer of wheat, and a sixth of the ephah from a homer of barley.
This [is] the contribution [offering] which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a homer of wheat, and a sixth of the ephah from a homer of barley. And the quota of the olive oil, the bath [of] the olive oil, [is] the tenth part of a bath from a kor, [which] [is] ten baths, [or] a homer--for ten baths [are equal to] a homer.
And [the] grain offering [he will give] [shall be] an ephah {for each ram}, and for the male lambs [the] grain offering [shall be] {as much as he wants to give} and a hin of olive oil {for each ephah}.
And an ephah for each bull and an ephah for the ram he must provide [as] a grain offering, and [also] for the male lambs {as much as he can afford} and a hin [of] olive oil for each ephah.
And at the festivals and at the appointed times, the grain offering will be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with the ram and with the male lambs, {as much as he wants to give}, and a hin of olive oil {for each ephah}.
And grain offering he must provide in addition to it {every morning}, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of olive oil to moisten the finely milled flour [as] a grain offering to Yahweh {as a perpetual statute}.
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.
nor do they light a lamp and place it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house.
And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took [and] put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole [batch] was leavened."
And he said to them, "Surely a lamp is not brought so that it may be put under a bushel basket or under a bed, [is it]? [Is it] not so that it may be put on a lampstand?
And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other [traditions] which they have received [and] hold fast to--[for example,] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)
Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men."
"No one [after] lighting a lamp puts [it] in a cellar or under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light.
It is like yeast that a woman took [and] hid in three measures of wheat flour until the whole [batch] was leavened."
Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your promissory note and write eighty.'
And behold, on [that] same day, two of them were traveling to a village {named} Emmaus [that was] sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem,
Now six stone water jars were set there, in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.
Now six stone water jars were set there, in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.
Then [when they] had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid.
(Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia.
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain that is called Olive Grove which is near Jerusalem, {a Sabbath day's journey away}.
And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
And I heard [something] like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"
And the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood went out from the winepress up to the bridles of the horses, about one thousand six hundred stadia.
And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is the same as [its] width. And he measured the city with the measuring rod at twelve thousand stadia; the length and the width and the height of it are equal.
And the material of its wall [is] jasper, and the city [is] pure gold, similar in appearance to pure glass.