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Shekel

Hebrew שֶׁקֶל. Literally "a weighing". Also called Sheqel, Sicle.

The standard weight of silver, and the anchor every other weight is a multiple or fraction of.

Mass
11–11.5 g (0.388–0.406 oz). Reckoned from inscribed stone weights excavated across Iron Age Judah.

For most of the Old Testament a shekel is not a coin but a weight — the word means "a weighing", and silver was weighed out on scales until coinage reached Judah in the Persian period. Inscribed stone shekel weights have been excavated across Judah in numbers, and they cluster tightly around 11.4 g, which makes this the best-attested measure on this page. The sanctuary shekel is named as a standard, which implies an ordinary one that could drift.

The weights, as silver at true size Each weight drawn as a cube of silver at its true size, beside a US quarter: a gerah, a twentieth of a shekel, 0.55–0.575 g, a speck under 4 millimetres across; a beka, half a shekel; a pim, two thirds; a shekel, 11–11.5 g, about a centimetre across; thirty pieces of silver, the price in Matthew 26:15, 330–345 g, a cube about 3 centimetres across; a mina, fifty shekels; and a talent, three thousand shekels, 33–34.5 kg, a block about 15 centimetres across. a geraha twentieth0.55–0.575 g0.0194–0.0203 oza bekahalf a shekel5.5–5.75 g0.194–0.203 oza pimtwo thirds7.33–7.67 g0.259–0.27 oza shekelthe anchor11–11.5 g0.388–0.406 ozthirty of silverMatthew 26:15330–345 g11.6–12.2 oza minafifty shekels550–575 g1.21–1.27 lba talentthree thousand shekels33–34.5 kg · 72.8–76.1 lba US quarter, for sizeeach weight as a cube of silver, at true size
Silver was weighed, not counted, until coins reached Judah, so each weight is drawn as the cube that much silver makes. A shekel is about a centimetre across; the thirty pieces of silver would sit in a palm; a talent is a block a hand and a half wide.

Where it appears

See also

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