Bible Dictionaries
Weights

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Weather

Next Entry
Widow

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Additional Links

Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Weights
Thompson Chain Reference
• Weights
• Tables of Money, Weights, Measures, Etc
• Just Weights
Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
• Weights & Measures
• Gravity, Weight
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Weights
Dictionaries
American Tract Society
• Weights
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• Weights
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Weights
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Weights and Measures
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Weights and Measures
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Weights and Measures
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Weights and Measures
King James Dictionary
• Weight
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Weights and Measures
• Burden, Weight
People's Bible Dictionary
• Tables of Measures Weights and Money in the Bible
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Weights And Measures
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Weigh, Weight, Weighty, Weightier
Wilson's Bible Types
• Weight
Webster Dictionary
• Counter Weight
• Weight
• Weighted
•   (only first 3 shown)
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Weights
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Weight-Throwing
• Weights and Measures
• Weights and Measures-2
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Shekel of the King's Weight; Royal Shekel
• Weight
• Weights and Measures
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Weights and Measures
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Weight
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Atomic Weight
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Weights and Measures
Lexicons
• βαρέω
• βάρος
• ὄγκος
•   (only first 3 shown)
• אֶבֶן
• מִשְׁקוֹל
• מִשְׁקָל
•   (only first 3 shown)

It is not possible today to give exact equivalents of the weights and measures referred to in the Bible. It seems that no official system operated throughout Palestine, and weights and measures may have varied from place to place and from era to era.

The important requirement of the Israelite law was that weights and measures be honest (Leviticus 19:5-36; Deuteronomy 25:13-16). This was a requirement that greedy and dishonest merchants ignored. When selling grain they used undersized measures, and when weighing the buyer’s money they used extra heavy weights (Amos 8:4-5). But God saw their dishonesty and announced his judgment upon them (Proverbs 11:1; Micah 6:11).

The heaviest weight in use in Israel was the talent, which probably weighed about 50 kilograms (1 Chronicles 29:7; Revelation 16:21; see TALENT). A talent was divided into sixty minas (1 Kings 10:17), and a mina into fifty shekels. Thus a shekel, which was the basic weight, weighed between sixteen and seventeen grams (Ezekiel 4:10; see SHEKEL). Half a shekel was called a beka (Exodus 38:26), and a twentieth of a shekel a gerah (Exodus 30:13).