TABLES OF THE WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND MONEY, MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE.

JEWISH WEIGHTS, REDUCED TO ENGLISH TROY WEIGHT.

lbs. ozs. pen. gr.

The Gerah, the twentieth part of a Shekel 0 0 0 12

The Bekah, half a Shekel 0 0 5 0

The Shekel 0 0 10 0

The Maneh, sixty Shekels 2 6 0 0

The Talent, fifty Maneh, or three thousand Shekels 125 0 0 0

According to the bishop of Peterborough’s calculations, the Gerah is nearly equal to 11 grains Troy; the Bekah, to about 4¾ pennyweights; and the Shekel, to about 9⅛ pennyweights.

TABLES OF SCRIPTURE MEASURES OF LENGTH, REDUCED TO

ENGLISH MEASURE.

SHORT MEASURES.

English feet. Inches.

Digit 0 0.912

4 Palm 0 3.684

12 3 Span 0 10.944

24 6 3 Cubit 1 9.888

96 24 6 2 Fathom 7 3.552

144 36 12 6 1.5 Ezekiel’s reed 10 11.328

192 48 16 8 2 1.3 Arabian pole 14 7.104

1920 480 160 80 20 13.3 10 Schœnus’s meas’ng line 145 11.04

LONG MEASURES.

English miles. Paces. Feet.

Cubit 0 0 1.824

400 Stadium or Furlong 0 145 4.6

2000 5 Sabbath day’s journey 0 729 3.0

4000 10 2 Eastern mile 1 403 1.0

12000 30 6 3 Parasang 4 153 3.0

96000 240 48 24 8 A day’s journey 33 172 4.0

⁂ 5 Feet=1 Pace; 1056=1 mile.

According to the bishop of Peterborough, a Parasang is equal to 4 miles, 116 paces.

FOR TABLES OF TIME SEE THE ARTICLES “MONTHS” AND “DAY.”

TABLES OF SCRIPTURE MEASURES OF CAPACITY.

MEASURES FOR LIQUIDS, REDUCED TO ENGLISH WINE MEASURE.

Gallons. Pints.

Caph 0 0.625

1.3 Log 0 0.833

5.3 4 Cab 0 3.333

16 12 3 Hin 1 2

32 24 6 2 Seah 2 4

96 72 18 6 3 Bath or Epha 7 4

960 720 180 60 20 10 Chomer, Homer, Kor, or Coros 75 5

1002The Omer was one-tenth of an Epha, and contained 6 pints; the Metretes of Syria, translated in John ii, 6, “firkins,” 7⅛ pints; and the eastern Cotyla, half a pint. This Cotyla, says the bishop of Peterborough, contains just 10 ounces Averdupois of rain water; the Omer, 100 ounces; the Epha, 1000; and the Chomer, 10,000 ounces. So by these weights all these measures of capacity may be expeditiously recovered to a near exactness.

MEASURES FOR THINGS DRY, REDUCED TO ENGLISH CORN MEASURE.

Pecks. Gals. Pints.

Gachal 0 0 0.1416

20 Cab 0 0 2.8333

36 1.8 Omer or Gomer 0 0 5.1

120 6 3.3 Seah 1 0 1

360 18 10 3 Epha 3 0 3

1800 90 50 15 5 Letech 16 0 0

3600 180 100 30 10 2 Chomer Homer, &c. 32 0 0

TABLES OF MONEY.

JEWISH MONEY, REDUCED TO THE ENGLISH STANDARD.

£. s. d.

Gerah 0 0 1.3687

10 Bekah 0 1 1.6875

20 2 Shekel 0 2 3.375

1200 120 50 Maneh, or Mina Hebraica 5 14 0.75

60,000 6000 3000 60 Talent 342 3 9

Solidus Aureus, or Sextula, was worth 0 12 0.5

Siclus Aureus, or Gold Shekel 1 16 6

Talent of Gold 5475 0 0

The bishop of Peterborough makes the Mina Hebraica to contain 60 Shekels, and to weigh 27 oz. 7½ dwts.; which, at 5s. per ounce, will amount to 6l. 16s. 10½d.; and the Talent of Silver to contain 50 Minæ, which, at 5s., will equal the amount in this table, 342l. 3s. 9d.

ROMAN MONEY, MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, REDUCED TO THE

ENGLISH STANDARD.

£. s. d. far.

Mite (Assarium) 0 0 0 ¾

Farthing, (Quadrans,) about 0 0 0 1½

Penny, or Denarius (Silver) 0 0 7 3

Pound, or Mina 3 2 6 0

According to the bishop of Peterborough, the Roman Mite is one-third of our farthing; Quadrans, three-fourths of a farthing; the Assarium, a farthing and a half; and the Assis three farthings.

⁂ In the preceding Tables, Silver is valued at 5s., and Gold at £4. per ounce.

Since the publication, in 1727, of Dr. Arbuthnot’s “Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures,” that celebrated work has been regarded by the best divines as the general standard on these difficult subjects. More recently the bishop of Peterborough has rendered good service to this part of Biblical antiquity by entering into several nice and extensive calculations on the weights and measures mentioned in the Bible, which have, with very few exceptions, confirmed the previous investigations of Dr. Arbuthnot: and as the axiom, “What is new in theology is false,” holds good only in regard to the doctrines of Scripture, and not to its statics and numismatics, no hesitation has been felt in presenting the reader, under each of the preceding Tables, with some of the most important of the results which the bishop has thus obtained.

In the abstruse department of mensuration of superficies, the same learned prelate has also ably demonstrated, that the altar of incense, described in Exodus xxx, 2, as consisting of a cubit in length, and a cubit in breadth, and yet “four-square,” contained exactly one square cubit, that is, three English square feet, and about forty-seven square inches;--that the table of shew bread, described in Exodus xxv, 23, as being two cubits long and one broad, and rectangular, contained above six English square feet;--that the boards of the tabernacle, described in Exodus xxvi, 16, as ten cubits in length and a cubit and a half in breadth, and rectangular, contained nearly fifty square feet of English measure;--that the mercy seat, which Moses is directed to make “two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof,” Exodus xxv, 17, contained twelve and a half square feet;--that the altar of incense, which was directed to be “a cubit the length thereof and a cubit the breadth thereof, and four square,” Exodus xxx, 2, contained upward of three square feet;--that the court of the tabernacle, the orders concerning which were, “The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where,” Exodus xxvii, 18, comprised upward of sixteen thousand six hundred and thirty-four square feet, or in English land measure one rood, twenty-one perches, and twenty-seven and a half feet;--and that the Levites’ glebe, which is thus described in Numbers xxxv, 3–5: “The cities they shall have to dwell in: and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits,” &c; “and the city shall be in the midst;” contained three hundred and five acres, two roods, and one perch, which was, for each of the four sides, seventy-six acres, one rood, twenty perches, and eighty square feet.

Respecting the Egyptian aroura, which is sometimes mistranslated “acre,” the bishop remarks, “Reflecting upon Moses’ measure by cubits, and,” in the case of the court of the tabernacle, “finding them to be precisely five thousand square cubits, I observed that they were just half ten thousand, which I had observed from Herodotus to be the area of the Egyptian aroura, by which their land was as generally measured as ours is by acres and roods. I called also to mind a passage in Manetho, an Egyptian priest, cited by Josephus, in his first book against Apion, where he affirms, that Manetho, in his history of the reign, wars, and expulsion of the Pastors, (whom Africanus affirms to be Phenicians or Canaanites, and Josephus vainly believed to be Jews,) wrote out of the public records of Egypt, that these Pastors made at Abaris a very large and strong encampment, that encompassed ten thousand arouræ, sufficient to contain two hundred and forty thousand men, and long to maintain their cattle. Hence it appears, that not only the Egyptians, but also the Phenicians or Canaanites, that had dwelt among them, and had reigned there during the time of six kings successively, used this measure of land called aroura. Now this was long before the time of Moses; for the beginning of Amosis or Tethmosis, who expelled them out of Egypt, was very near the time of Abraham’s death. Wherefore I believe that Moses, who was skilled in all Egyptian learning, especially in surveying, did of choice make the court of the tabernacle to be just half an aroura, which was a known measure to him and his people, and that divine authority directed him so to do.” In another part of his work he reduces the Egyptian aroura into English measure, and finds it to be three roods, two perches, and fifty-five and a quarter square feet.

THE END.

under the article

Apostles’ Creed, for Creed, read Confessions of Faith.

Transcriber’s Note

Minor lapses in punctuation, including missing full stops and end-of-line hyphens, have been corrected with no further notice. In a work this large, it is inevitable that some inconsistencies in format will occur, which have been set right.

There are some variants of spelling which have, in general, been retained, given the wide range of sources employed by the author. The use of the diaeresis in words like ‘coöperate’ or ‘reëstablishment’ was not followed where the prefix appeared hyphenated on a line break (e.g. ‘re-establishment’). These have been rendered here using the diaeresis.

A passage from Chardin, cited on p. 250, has an un-opened quotation, the beginning of which has been placed as noted below, based on other commentaries citing Chardin on Psalms 90.4.

Most internal references refer to the main topics, which are typically in UPPERCASE characters, but on occasion refer to subtopics in mixed SMALLCAP font, or, rarely, to keywords in paragraphs (e.g., allegory).

The main entry for MOAB was printed in a normal font, and so could be easily missed. That has been corrected here to follow the conventional printing.

The Alphabetical Table of Proper Names, at the end of the text, also contains a number of internal references. These refer to other entries in that table.

Corrections appear in the text as links to the matching entries in the table below.

Corrections appear in the text as underlined text. The original text is displayed when the mouse is placed on the highlighted word or phrase. Each correction can be accessed using the linked columns in the table below.

In the article for CRANE, the Hebrew שיש (marble) is given for ‘crane’, from Jer. viii, 7. The word סיס, or ‘swift’ would seem to have been meant. In the alphabetical index of names, a reference to ‘Siloah’ has no obvious referent.

The article for REED directs the reader to an article for CANE, which is not in the text.

The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions. The references in the first column are to the page, column, and line in the original text.

7.2.39 who gave Golia[t]h’s sword Added.

47.1.58 Καὶ ἐν τῷ μέσω ἀυτου ὡς ὅρασις ἠλεκτρȣ ἐν μέσῳ [το͂ν/τοῦ] ϖυρὸς Replaced.

90.2.69 has been much misrepresented[.] Added.

93.2.29 it is necessary, in order [] to his salvation sic: obtain?

94.2.47 as it does [ ] this day sic: to?

101.1.9 are undoub[t]edly mentioned Added.

111.1.52 in the habit of refer[r]ing with approbation Added.

113.2.20 the arguments of St. A[u]gustine Added.

116.2 observed[,] some remains of these enclosures Removed.

137.2.60 the Prophet says[./,] ‘Of the oaks of Bashan Replaced.

139.1.20 [the rendering of an equivalent:][)]'> Parenthesis added.

140.2.32 The following observations[./,] from Replaced.

143.1.42 exposed in the amp[h]itheatre to fight Added.

171.2.16 The word[,] is formed from the Gothic Removed.

160.1.25 the truth of the princ[i]pal facts Added.

185.1.8 “the Memphian” or Egyptian [“]boat is made Removed.

188.1.37 eso[r/t]etic, or concealed doctrine Replaced.

201.2.32 became permanently settled at the diet of Au[g]sburg Added.

202.1.48 and those who are not, accepted.[’] Probable.

207.1.59 is directed again[s]t Canaan Added.

207.2.9 in his de[s]cendants Added.

214.1.31 with hair standing [a/o]n end on it Replaced.

217.2.23 for their perusal.[”] Removed.

224.1.20 like that of the pine.[”] Added.

236.1.7 who holds her balance[,/.] Replaced.

236.2.12 more substantial world[l]y benefits Added.

236.2.48 Here the Christ[ai/ia]n Transposed.

241.2.4 which was to be pe[r]formed Added.

244.1.13 which have no s[pu/up]port from the magistracy Transposed.

250.1.36 that [“]as the people of the east have no clocks Added.

259.2.54 as it occurs in the [T/N]ew Testament Replaced.

268.2.9 whether they were gold or brass.[”] Added.

274.2.54 two birds are mentioned, the [שיש/סיס>] Replaced.

278.2.38 increases the p[io/oi] of the suffering Transposed.

285.1.19 Who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.[”]> Added.

303.2.32 ‘all sick people,[’] that were taken with divers diseases Removed.

307.2.54 which occurs under the word, [סמפחת/מספחת], Lev. xiii, 6–8, 29. מס transposed.

318.2.47 “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof[”], Psalm xxiv, 1; Added.

325.1.20 in his “Instit[ut]utes,” he confirmed Removed.

331.1.16 Volney’s account is suffic[i]ently descriptive Added.

333.2.25 placed by the Egy[p]tian task-masters Added.

336.1.24 as consisting in outward wor[l]dly institutions Added.

337.2.12 all visible ack[n]owledgment of them Added.

343.2.31 reckon the dog a filt[h]y creature Added.

348.2.24 I am with you alway[s] Added.

350.2.29 They have eleven dioces[s]es Removed.

352.1.58 and they were pun[n]ished for their presumption Removed.

356.2.31 answers to the artific[i]al conception Added.

372.1.15 can consisten[t]ly refuse to admit Added.

373.2.46 while the bride[./-]groom is with them? Replaced.

382.2.38 If, then, such was [s/t]he superstitious homage Replaced.

382.2.45 “is Arabic, and signifies the fly in general.[”] Added.

394.1.17 in the amp[h]itheatre at Tiberias Added.

394.1.30 “They gave me ראש to eat[”]; Added.

415.1.50 the Egyptians, Prussians, Lithu[a]nians, Samogitians, &c. Added.

416.1.38 to kill his b[r]other Jacob Added.

424.2.31 not a bunch of grapes left [of/for] those who came to glean. Replaced/

438.2.31 church of the[-first / first-]born Transposed.

438.2.55 to make a t[py/yp]ical atonement Transposed.

442.2.23 the gifts of the Holy [C/G]host Replaced.

445.2.1 Hebron is now called El [H/K]halil; Replaced.

450.2.3 [Σ/Ἐ]ν τῶ ἄρχοντι τῶν δαιμονίων Replaced.

452.2.39 the only su[r]viving male Added.

462.2.41 [B/b]y the ‘testimony of the Spirit,’ I mean, Replaced.

469.2.25 A spacious bowl th[e]’ admiring patriarch fills Removed.

474.1.47 “counterfeit,” signif[i]es also a profane wicked man Added.

481.1.47 according to their origin[i]al institution Removed.

487.2.46 are built upon the foundati[a/o]n of the Apostles Replaced.

493.2.65 was buried with Abraham by his sons Esau and Jacob, Gen. xxxv,[ 29.] Missing, provided.

498.1.40 when [“]the Edomites revolted Added.

501.1.56 admitted till after the fourth[,] century Removed.

524.1.42 simply as a p[r]ediction prior to the event Added.

531.1.19 who occasion[al]ly sent officers Added.

538.1.35 the total absence of eve[ry/n] the slightest allusion Replaced.

539.2.33 but inferior to the second.[”] Added.

547.1.24 to visit the tomb of Thomas-a[ /-]Becket Replaced.

567.2.7 when the pu[u/n]ishment of their iniquity shall be accomplished Inverted.

577.1.38 LEAD, עפרת, Exod. xv, 10; sic: עופרת

584.2.61 if any animalcule of this sort were concealed in their garments.[”] Added.

593.2.36 LUCIAN, a philosop[h]er and wit Added.

594.1.65 they are [t/j]oined by Isaiah, lxvi, 19, with Pul Replaced.

691.2.15 Thus, it was infallib[l]y certain Added.

630.1.9 the fancy far more viv[e/i]d, in the dreaming Replaced.

637.1.13 utte[r]ly> averse to oaths Added.

660.2.14 [Moab/MOAB] was the son of Lot Replaced.

684.2.24 bore the character of remarkable simplic[i]ty Added.

672.1.29 so that he “heark[e]ned> not unto them, as the Lord had said,” Added.

692.1.1 they acc[c]omplished the great designs of Heaven Removed.

697.2.67 to impugn his doct[r]ine Added.

743.2.1 popular sect among the [Jews the/Jews. The] time when Replaced.

751.2.67 means literally [“]branches of oily or gummy plants.” Added.

788.1.45 the opin[i]ons of all sober persons Added.

789.1.30 or [גכר / נכר], also denotes a stranger Replaced.

791.1.50 differ, in this re[s]pect, from their ancestors Added.

796.2.69 and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, [‘]The Spirit of Jehovah Added.

827.2.61 “The orientals hold,[”] says D’Herbelot, Added.

843.2.56 there should be one hundred [s/a]nd twenty inhabitants Replaced.

844.2.18 power and malice are rest[r]ained Added.

844.2.51 that can dignif[i]y human nature Removed.

845.1.4 and with which the ancients were enraptured.[”] Added.

845.2.46 will [b/h]e offer him a scorpion? Replaced.

858.1.13 that the s[k/h]ekel> was worth twenty gerahs Replaced.

865.2.51 Unto him that blasphemeth again[s]t the Holy Ghost Added.

866.2.52 has three tops of a ma[r]vellous height Added.

872.1.60 appearing to his di[s]ciples Added.

872.2.59 of all subsequent marty[r]s> Added.

882.1.21 that of Alexan[an]dria Removed.

905.1.27 that sacred [o/e]difice Replaced.

907.1.69 the teraphim were hum[na/an] heads Transposed.

925.2.39 against the doct[r]ine itself Added.

936.2.1 like the horn of a reem,[’] Psalm xcii, 10. Added.

945.2.58 as they were then nearer the times [e/o]f the Apostles Replaced.

946.2.36 among the Protest[t]ants Removed.

959.2.61 more palatable and frag[r]ant with aromatics Added.

973.1.47 for purposes of secre[s/c]y Replaced.

977.2.31 [οτε/hότε] ἐπλήσθησαν ἡμέραι ὀκτὼ Replaced.