What Is shekel (Biblical Hebrew)?
The Biblical Hebrew shekel was an ancient unit used in Bible times. It mainly measured weight of silver or other metals and was also treated as money for buying and paying.
Definition
In the Bible, a shekel was:
- A unit of weight, used to weigh silver, gold, spices and other goods.
- A unit of value, because people paid with pieces of silver weighed in shekels.
The law in the Hebrew Bible says that one shekel was equal to 20 smaller units called gerah. Most scholars think one Biblical shekel weighed about 11 to 12 grams, which is a bit less than half of a modern ounce.
History / Origin
The idea of the shekel started in the ancient Near East, in places like Mesopotamia and Canaan, before coins were invented.
At first, people traded by weighing small pieces of metal, mostly silver. Instead of counting coins, they weighed the metal on scales. The shekel became a common name for a standard weight used in trade and in temple offerings.
In the Hebrew Bible:
- Shekels are used to pay bride prices, land, and goods.
- Shekels are used to measure offerings and temple donations.
- There is talk of a standard shekel, called the shekel of the sanctuary, as an official weight to keep trade fair.
Later, long after the time of the Bible, real coins called shekels were made in different Jewish periods. These later coins were inspired by the older weight unit, but the Biblical Hebrew shekel itself was first a weight, not a stamped coin.
Symbol & Abbreviation
The Biblical Hebrew shekel did not have a modern style symbol like $, £ or €. It appeared as a word in ancient texts.
Common ways it is shown today are:
- Hebrew word: שקל (singular) and שקלים (plural).
- English spelling: shekel or sheqel, plural shekels or sheqalim.
- Short forms in study books: sh, shek or sq, but there is no single official short code.
Important note. The modern Israeli currency, the New Israeli Shekel, has the symbol ₪ and code ILS. This is a different thing from the Biblical Hebrew shekel, even though they share the same name.
Current Use Around the World
The Biblical Hebrew shekel is no longer used in shops or banks. Today it is mainly used in:
- Bible studies to understand prices, wages and offerings in Bible stories.
- History and archaeology when experts weigh old objects or metal pieces that may match the shekel standard.
- Teaching and books to explain how people in the ancient Near East measured weight and money.
When people today translate a Bible passage, they often change shekels into modern money or grams in notes so that readers can better feel the value. But because prices and wages have changed a lot, no modern value is exact.
Example Conversions
Because the exact weight of a Biblical shekel could change by place and time, we use an average for study. A common estimate is:
1 Biblical shekel ≈ 11.4 grams
Using this estimate, here are simple conversions.
- Shekels to grams
- 1 shekel ≈ 11.4 g
- 10 shekels ≈ 114 g
- 50 shekels ≈ 570 g
- 100 shekels ≈ 1,140 g
- Shekels to kilograms
- 1 shekel ≈ 0.011 kg
- 50 shekels ≈ 0.57 kg
- 100 shekels ≈ 1.14 kg
- Shekels to ounces (avoirdupois)
- 1 shekel ≈ 0.40 ounces
- 5 shekels ≈ 2.0 ounces
- 25 shekels ≈ 10.0 ounces
If you want to guess a money value using silver price, you can do this.
- Choose a silver price per gram, for example 0.80 US dollars per gram.
- Multiply by the shekel weight in grams.
With that sample price.
- 1 shekel of silver ≈ 11.4 g × 0.80 ≈ 9.12 US dollars
- 10 shekels of silver ≈ 91.2 US dollars
This is only a rough idea, since silver prices and buying power in ancient times were very different from today.
Related Units
The Biblical Hebrew shekel was part of a larger group of weight units used in the Bible and nearby cultures.
- Gerah. A small unit of weight. The Bible says 20 gerah made 1 shekel.
- Mina or maneh. A larger unit of weight. In some systems about 50 or 60 shekels equaled 1 mina.
- Talent. A very large unit of weight used for big amounts of metal, such as temple treasures. Often counted in many minas or many shekels.
- Modern gram (g). Today, grams are used everywhere to measure weight. We compare shekels to grams to understand the old unit.
- Modern kilogram (kg). Used today for heavier objects. Many shekels together can be changed into kilograms for easy study.
- New Israeli Shekel (ILS). The modern money of Israel. It shares the name but is a current currency, not the ancient weight unit.
FAQs
How much did a Biblical shekel weigh?
Most experts think a Biblical Hebrew shekel weighed about 11 to 12 grams. Different places and times had slightly different standards, so this number is an average, not an exact rule.
Was a Biblical shekel a coin or just a weight?
In the early Bible period, a shekel was mainly a weight. People weighed pieces of silver on scales instead of using stamped coins. Later, real coins called shekels appeared in Jewish history, but the first meaning of shekel was a weight unit.
Is the Biblical shekel the same as the modern Israeli shekel?
No. The Biblical Hebrew shekel is an ancient weight and value unit linked to pieces of silver. The modern Israeli shekel is a paper and digital currency used in Israel today with its own laws and exchange rates.
How many gerah are in one shekel?
According to the Hebrew Bible, 1 shekel equals 20 gerah. The gerah is a smaller unit used to define the shekel in the law of weights and measures.
Why do Bible translations sometimes change shekels into other units?
Most modern readers do not know ancient units. Translators often give values in grams, ounces or modern money in footnotes, so readers can better feel how heavy or how expensive something was.
Can we know the exact modern money value of a Biblical shekel?
No, not exactly. We can guess the metal value by using the weight and today’s silver price, but the cost of food, land and work was very different then. So any modern money value is only an estimate used for learning, not a perfect match.
