What are the modern equivalents of biblical weights and measures?

LIQUID MEASURE. Caph………………………………………..…. 0.552 pints Log (1.3 caphs)………………………………... 0.718 '' Lev. 14:10-24. Cab (4 logs)…………………………………… 2.872 '' 2 Kings 6:25. Hin (12 logs)………………………………….. 1.077 gallons Ex. 29:40. Bath, Ephah (72 logs)………………………..… 6.462 '' 1 Kings 7:26. Cor, Homer (720 logs)……………………….. 64.620 '' Ezek. 45:14. Pot, ξέστης……………..…………………… 0.96 pints Mark 7:4, 8. Measure, βάτος ……..…………………….... 7.5 gallons Luke 16:6. Firkin, μετρητής…………………………….. 8.625 '' John 2:6. Measure, κόρος……………………………… 64.133 '' Luke 16:7.

DRY MEASURE. Log ………………………………………….. 0.718 pints Cab (4 logs) …………………………………. 2.872 '' 2 Kings 6:25. Omer (1.8 cabs) …………………………….. 5.169 '' Ex. 16:16, 36. Tenth deal (tenth of an Ephah) ……………….. 5.169 '' Ex. 29:40. Measure, seah (6 cabs) ……………………… 2.154 gallons 1 Sam. 25:18. Ephah (18 cabs) …………………………….. 6.462 " Lev. 5:11. Half Homer, lethek (90 cabs) ……………….. 4.040 bushels Hosea 3:2. Homer, chomer (180 cabs) …………………. 8.081 '' Lev. 27:16. Measure, χοῖνιξ …………………………….. 2.000 pints Rev. 6:6. Bushel, μόδιος ……………………………… 2.000 gallons Matt. 5:15. Measure, σάτον …………………………….. 2.875 '' Matt. 13:33.

LONG MEASURE. Finger or Digit, etsba ………………………. .7584 inches Jer. 52:21. Handbreadth or Palm (4 digits), tephach 3.0337 '' 1 Kings 7:26. Span, zereth (3 palms) …………………….. 9.1012 '' Ex. 28:16. Cubit, ammah, πῆχυς (2 spans) …………… 18.2025 '' Gen. 6:15. Fathom, ὀργυιά (4 Cubits) ………………… 6.0675 feet Acts 27:28. Reed, qaneh, (6 cubits) ……………………. 9.1012 '' Ezek. 40:3-8. Furlong, στάδιον (400 cubits) …………….. 606.750 '' Luke 24:13. Sabbath-day's journey (2000 cubits) ……... 3033.75 '' Acts 1:12. Mile, μίλιον (3,200 cubits) ………………. 4854.0 '' Matt. 5:41. Acre. As much land as a yoke of oxen would plough in a day. 1 Sam. 14:14.

The above measures are calculated from the cubit being the same as the Hebrew ammah and the Greek πῆχυς, which latter is found in Matt. 6:27; Luke 12:25; John 21:8; Rev. 21:17. This may be called the short cubit (perhaps not the shortest: See CUBIT). In Ezek. 41:8 is the expression, 'a full reed of six great cubits.' The 'great cubit ' is supposed to be a cubit and a handbreadth. This would make Ezekiel's reed to be about 10.618 feet. By adding a sixth to any of the above measurements they will correspond to the great cubit. There can be no doubt, however, that the 'furlong' and the 'mile' were Greek measures.

Though all these reckonings are only approximate, they help to throw light upon many passages of scripture. Thus Isaiah 5:10 shows that there is a curse resting upon the fields of a covetous man. In Revelation 6:6 the quantities prove that the time then spoken of will be one of great scarcity, etc.

Pounds ozs. drams. Gerah (1/20 of a shekel)…………………………….- - 0.439 Bekah (½ of a shekel) ………………………………- - 4.390 Shekel ……………………………………………… - - 8.780 Maneh or pound (60 shekels).……………………… 2 0 14.800 Talent, kikkah (50 maneh).………………………….102 14 4.000 Talent of Lead (Zech. 5:7), 'weighty piece,' margin. Talent (Rev. 16:21): if Attic = about 55 lbs. Pound, λίτρα (John 12:3; John 19:39) about 12 oz. avoirdupois.

It must be noted that there are two shekels mentioned in the Old Testament: one according to 'the king's weight,' probably the standard shekel used for all ordinary business, as in Ex. 38:29; Joshua 7:21; 2 Sam. 14:26; Amos 8:5; and another called the 'shekel of the sanctuary,' of which it is said in Ex. 30:13; Lev. 27:25; Num. 3:47; Num. 18:16, 'the shekel is 20 gerahs,' implying perhaps that the common shekel was different. Michaelis says that the proportion was as 5 to 3, the business shekel being the smaller.

This seems confirmed by the word maneh in the following passages. By comparing 1 Kings 10:17 with 2 Chr. 9:16 it will be seen that a maneh equals 100 shekels (probably, for the word 'shekels' has been added by the translators); whereas in Ezek. 45:12 the maneh equals 60 shekels, because the latter would be shekels of the sanctuary. The passage in Ezekiel is obscure, but the sense appears to be that three weights (20, 25, and 15 shekels) should be their maneh, which makes, as in the above table, a maneh = 60 shekels. Some modern tables give the maneh as equal to 50 shekels, from the supposition that this is what is meant in Ezek. 45:12 in the LXX. The maneh is translated 'pound' in 1 Kings 10:17; Ezra 2:69; Neh. 7:71-72.

The principal weights in use were as follows with their approximate equivalents:

£ Gerah (1/20 of a shekel)………………. ??? Ex. 30:13. Bekah, beqa (½ of a shekel)………….. ??? Gen. 24:22. Shekel………………………………… ??? Gen. 23:15. Dram (daric, a Persian gold coin) about ??? 1 Chr. 29:7. Maneh or pound, 60 shekels………….. ??? Ezek. 45:12. Talent of Silver……………………….. ??? Ezra 7:22. Talent of Gold………………………… ??? Ex. 25:39.

The following measurement and weights may be useful to the reader: 1 cubit .. 1 foot, 9.888 inches 1 shekel (silver) .. 2s. 3.37d. (at 5s. an ounce) 1 talent of silver £342 3s. 9d. 1 talent of gold .. £5,475

As to coins and measures, an exact knowledge of the value of the different coins is not very important, because in the New Testament they are only employed in general to denote larger or smaller sums, and this distinction is apparent in the passages themselves. As we have, however, used some Greek names, we give here the value of the different coins, but without seeking to be perfectly accurate. We only remark with respect to the drachma, that some estimate its value at less than we do. "Lepton" is a 1/2 pfennig ( 1/5 of a farthing) or even less; the smallest coin. "Quadrans" is equal to 2 lepta. Assarion: the value of this coin is uncertain. Some give 4, some 2 Pfennigs (1/5 or 2/5 of a penny). Drachma (100 to a mina) is about 7 groschen, (8 1/2d.). Didrachma is 2 drachmas = 14 groschen. The Mina (60 to a talent) is about 22 1/2 to 23 thalers (£3 7s. 6d. to £3 9s.). But the worth of a talent was different in different countries. The Babylonian talent had 12 minas more than the more generally used Attic talent. In the New Testament it is probably the Syrian talent. The silver talent was valued in Syria at something over 320 thalers (£48), the golden talent at 3,935 thalers (£590 8s.). [A. Böckh reckons the drachma at 7 1/2 Sg. (9d.); the mina at 25 thalers (£3 15s.); and the Attic talent at 1,500 thalers (£225).] The Choenix is commonly what a man needs for a day's sustenance. Bath = 6 hins, or about 1 eimer (bushel?). Corus = 10 baths. [written 1855]

Isaiah 5:10 makes clear that both liquid and dry measure are mentioned by Ezekiel, the bath being the former and the ephah the latter. The homer is made the standard for both, a measure approximately estimated at 11 bushels, or 90 gallons.

As to weights, the shekel is to be that of the Sanctuary, twenty gerahs (Ex. 30:13; Lev. 27:25). The latter part of this verse is difficult to understand. The maneh is usually taken to equal fifty shekels; here it seems to be sixty, that is, 20+25+ 15; but if this is so, the reason for giving it in three parts is not apparent. Kiel inclines to consider the text corrupt; but Hengstenberg and Hitzig suppose a maneh of threefold value, but evidence for this is lacking. If the talent is correctly estimated as 60 maneh, the statement here seems at variance with Ex. 38:25-26, an analysis of which gives the following result: 603,550 persons gave each half a shekel. This would give 301,775 shekels, deducting the 1,775 leaves the 300, 000, which would be equal to the 100 talents, these being taken as sixty manehs each, requires each maneh to equal fifty shekels (100x60x50=300,000). This is true of the later Jewish weight system. The passage remains obscure. Some critics suggest the adoption of the LXX as read in the Alex. MS., "Five (shekels) shall be five, and ten shekels ten, and fifty shekels shall be your maneh," meaning that all shall be genuine of equal and full weight. This at least is in accord with the moral significance of the context.

402 Luke 16:6. — "Baths," a liquid measure. Ten of these went to the cor (Ezek. 45:14). See next note.

403 Luke 16:7. — "Cors": a dry measure. It was the Hebrew homer, standard measure of capacity (Ezek. 45:11), made up of ten ephahs: about eight English bushels.

The "hin" was the measure used in connection with the drink offerings and the oil for the meat-offering (Ex. 29:40). (See also the special provision for the graded offerings, suggesting various aspects of our Lord's sacrifice, and perhaps also different degrees of apprehension on the part of the worshiper, Num. 15:4-10.) As the cubit was for linear, the ephah for dry measure, and the shekel for weight, the hin seems to have been the ordinary unit for liquid measure. Thus "the measure of a man," that which can be apprehended by man, is suggested as being brought by the Spirit to his comprehension, of that which "passeth knowledge," "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8, 19).

The spices were apportioned by weight, the unit of which was "the shekel of the sanctuary." The word is from the root meaning to weigh, originally, perhaps, to poise. It is that which forms a true estimate of the value of things. The shekel of the sanctuary, or sacred shekel, may have been of greater weight than the usual one, and the king's shekel (2 Sam. 14:26) may have been the same. One thing we know, the shekel of the King of kings would be just and unvarying, for "divers weights and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 20:10). This shekel was divided into twenty gerahs, and a half shekel or ten gerahs was the ransom money for all the men of Israel (Ex. 30:12, etc.) At the significance of this we have already looked.

Moznayim, ζυγός, a pair of balances or scales: such are seen on the Egyptian monuments, with the weights in one scale and the article to be weighed in the other. They were needful also in early days for weighing the money: when Abraham bought a burying place he "weighed to Ephron the silver." Gen. 23:16: cf. Jer. 32:10. Job asked to be weighed in an even balance, Job 31:6: cf. Lev. 19:36; Ezek. 45:10, for men contrived to falsify the balance, as well as the weights, which was an abomination to the Lord. Prov. 11:1; Prov. 16:11; Hosea 12:7; Amos 8:5. In Isa. 46:6 another Hebrew word is used, qaneh, which signifies a reed, rod or beam, which may refer to the beam of the scales, for it is not known that the steel-yard was then in use. In Rev. 6:5 the rider on the black horse had a pair of balances with which to weigh out the food, showing that great scarcity will be one of God's judgements in the future.