Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement

Archaeological While documentation on each unit's relation to another's is plentiful, there is much debate, both within Judaism and in academia, about the exact relationship between measurements in the system and those in other measurement systems. Classical definitions, such as that an etzba was seven barleycorns laid side by side, or that a log was equal to six medium-sized eggs, are also open to debate. Nevertheless, the entire system of measurement bears profound resemblance to the Babylonian and the ancient Egyptian systems, and is currently understood to have likely been derived from some combination of the two. Scholars commonly infer the absolute sizes based on the better-known Babylonian units' relations to their contemporary counterparts. and thus is one sixth larger than the standard amah. An explanation for this discrepancy seems to be suggested by the Book of Chronicles, which states that Solomon's Temple was built according to "cubits following the first measure", suggesting that over the course of time the original amah was supplanted by a smaller one. The smaller of the Egyptian cubits measured , but the standard Babylonian cubit, cast in stone on one of the statues of Gudea, was 49.5 cm (19.49 in), and the larger Egyptian cubit was between 52.5 and 52.8 cm (20.67 and 20.79 in). who approximates the etzba at 2 cm (0.79 in), and Chazon Ish at 2.38 cm (0.94 in). A third opinion, in Rabbi Chaim P. Benish's "Midos V'Shiurei Torah", provides an alternative understanding of the Rambam and suggests that the , according to the Rambam, is 0.748–0.756 in (1.90–1.92 cm). In the below tables, the range of values shown is that between the calculations of Naeh and Chazon Ish. The archaeological estimate is in the middle of this range. == Length and distance ==

The original measures of length were derived from the human body—the finger, hand, arm, span, foot, and pace—but since these measures differ between individuals, they are reduced to a certain standard for general use. The Hebrew Bible mentions the palm or handbreadth (Hebrew: טפח, '; plural '), the span (Hebrew: זרת, ), and the cubit or ell (Hebrew: אמה, Amah, plural Amot). In later periods, more measures are recorded: the digit or fingerbreadth (Hebrew: אצבע, etzba; plural ''etzba'ot''), • 1 span () = 3 palms () • 1 mil () = 2000 cubits [ells] () • 1 parasang () = 4 mils () Talmudic additions To the somewhat simple system of distance, the Talmud adds a few more units, namely the double palm (Hebrew: חסיט, ), the pace (Hebrew: פסיעה, ), the cord (Hebrew: חבל, ), the stadion (Hebrew: ריס, ), the '''day's journey' (Hebrew:דרך יום, ), and an undetermined quantity named the (Hebrew: גרמידא). The stadion appears to have been adopted from Persia, while the double palm'' seems to have been derived from the Greek . Others say that 1 stadion equalled 470–500 cubits. • 1 day's journey (derekh yom) = 10 parasangs (parasa) Two additional units are more ambiguous. The garmida is mentioned repeatedly but without its size being indicated; it is even sometimes treated as an area, and as a volume. The cord is given two different definitions; in the Mishnah it is 50 cubits, but in the Gemara it is only 4 cubits. ==Area==

The Israelite system of measuring area was fairly informal; the biblical text merely measures areas by describing how much land could be sown with a certain volume measure of seed, for example the amount of land able to be sown with 2 seahs of barley. The closest thing to a formal area unit was the yoke ( ) (sometimes translated as acre), which referred to the amount of land that a pair of yoked oxen could plough in a single day; in Mesopotamia the standard estimate for this was 6,480 square cubits, which is roughly equal to a third of an acre. Area varies between 24 and 34.5 m2 (258–372 ft2) • Beit seah (, pl. ) space for sowing a 576 to 829.5 m2 (689-992 yd2) • Beit kor (, pl. ) space for sowing a of seed, or what is 30 in volume; the area needed is appx. 1.73 to 2.48 hectares (4.27-6.15 acres), or about 23,000 m2 in area. ==Volume==

The Israelite system of powder/liquid volume measurements corresponds exactly with the Babylonian system. Unlike the Egyptian system, which has units for multiples of 1, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 of the base unit, the Babylonian system is founded on multiples of 6 and 10, namely units of 1, 12, 24, 60, 72 (60 plus 12), 120, and 720. the smallest unit is the beitza (egg), followed by the log (לג), followed by the kab (קב), followed by the ''se'ah (סאה), followed by the ephah (איפה), followed by the lethek (לתך), and finally by the kor (כור). The lethek is mentioned only once in the Masoretic Text, and the Septuagint translates it by the Greek term nebeloinou (νέβελ οἴνου), meaning wine-skin''. These measurements were related as follows: Liquid measure For liquid measure, the main units were the Log, Hin, and Bath, related as follows: • 1 Log () = 4 ''Revi'ith'' (, ) • 1 Hin () = 12 Logs • 1 Bath () = 6 Hin The ''revi'it, or revi'it halog, formed one quarter of a log''. The Bath, equal to 72 Logs, is thus the liquid equivalent of the Ephah, also equal to 72 Logs. The liquid equivalent of the omer, which appears without a special name, only being described as the tenth part of a bath, is as much of an awkward fit as the omer itself, and is only mentioned by Ezekiel and the Priestly Code; scholars attribute the same explanation to it as with the Omer—that it arose as a result of decimalisation. Based on this, a Revi'ith would measure (approx.) 76 ml or 2.7 fluid oz. Talmudic additions In Talmudic times many more measures of capacity were used, mostly of foreign origin, especially from Persia and Greece, which had both held dominance over Judea by this period. The definitions for many of these are disputed. Those that were certain (disputed) fractions of the Kab include, in increasing order of size, (עוכלא), (תומן), and (קפיזא). Those that were larger, in increasing order of size, included the modius (מודיא), ' (), ' (גרב). Of unidentified size were the (אדרב), the (כונא), and the (קמץ); the latter two of these were said to equate to a handful. Some dry measures were used for liquids as well, e.g. ''se'eh. The (קורטוב) was used for very small amounts (1/64 of a log''). ==Mass and money==

weighs out 400 shekels of silver (about 4.4 kg, or 141 troy oz) in order to buy land for a cemetery at Machpelah. (1728 illustration, based on Genesis 23) The Babylonian system, which the Israelites followed, measured weight with units of the kikar (talent), mina, shekel, and giru (Hebrew Gerah), related to one another as follows: • 1 shekel = 24 gerah • 1 mina = 60 shekels • 1 kikar = 60 mina In the Israelite system, the ratio of the gerah to the shekel was altered to 20:1 (). In later generations, the minah was renamed to litra, being the Greek form of the Latin libra, meaning pound. Thus, the Jewish system was as follows: • 1 shekel = 20 gerah • 1 litra = 60 shekels (later 100 zuz) • 1 kikar = 60 litra There were, however, different versions of the talent/kikkar in use; a royal and a common version. In addition, each of these forms had a heavy and a light version, with the heavy version being exactly twice the weight of the lighter form; the light royal talent was often represented in the form of a duck, while the heavy royal talent often took the form of a lion. The mina for the heavy royal talent weighed 1.01 kilograms (2.23 lbs), while that for the heavy common talent weighed only 984 grams (2.17 lbs); accordingly, the heavy common shekel would be about 15.87 grams (0.56 oz). Josephus also mentions an additional unit – the bekah – which was exactly half a shekel. Gradually, the system was reformed, perhaps under the influence of Egypt, so that a mina was worth only 50 shekels rather than 60; to achieve this, the shekel remained the same weight, while the weight of the standard mina was reduced. Moses mandated that the standard coinage would be in single shekels of silver; thus each shekel coin would constitute about 15.86 grams (0.51 troy ounces) of pure silver. In Judea, the Biblical shekel was initially worth about 3⅓ denarii, but over time the measurement had enlarged so that it would be worth exactly four denarii. == Time ==

Year The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar synchronised with the seasons by intercalation, i.e. a lunisolar calendar. There are thus 12 ordinary months plus an extra month that is added in (intercalated) every few years. Some months vary in length by a day, as well. Week The modern Hebrew calendar follows a seven-day weekly cycle, which runs concurrently but independently of the monthly and annual cycles. The seven-day cycle is not seen as a cycle in nature, and is rather a custom biblically originating from and other biblical references to Shabbat. Day In addition to "tomorrow" () and "yesterday" (), the Israelite vocabulary also contained a distinct word for two days ago (). Maḥaratayim ("the day after tomorrow", "over-morrow"), is a dual form of , literally "two tomorrows". In the Bible, the day is divided up vaguely, with descriptions such as "midnight", "noontime", "eveningtime", and "at the beginning of the middle night watch". Nevertheless, it is clear that the day was considered to start at dusk. By Talmudic times, the Babylonian system of dividing up the day (from sunset to sunrise, and sunrise to sunset), into hours (Hebrew: שעה, ''sha'ah), parts (Hebrew: חלק, heleq, plural halaqim), and moments (Hebrew: רגע, rega, plural rega'im''), had been adopted; the relationship of these units was: • 1 part (heleq) = 76 moments (''rega'im) (each moment, rega, is 0.04386 of a second; 22.8 rega'im'' is 1 second) • 1 hour (''sha'ah) = 1080 parts (halaqim) (each heleq'' is 3⅓ seconds) • 1 day = 24 hours (''sha'ah'') To complicate matters, Halakha, speaking of the relative hour, states that there are always 12 hours between the break of dawn and sunset, so these measurements are averages. For example, in the summer, a day time hour is much longer than a night time hour. == References ==