ama · cubit

What it means

ama (אַמָּה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “cubit”.

A measure of length, from the elbow to the tip of the fingers; about 45 centimeters.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. About 45 centimeters: from the bent arm to the fingertips.
2. The firm lower part on which a door turns.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Cubit: the measure from the elbow to the fingertips, the length of the forearm (BDB).

• The measurements of Noah's ark and of the ark of the covenant Genesis 6:15Exodus 25:10
• A man's height 1 Samuel 17:4
• The measurements of the temple 1 Kings 6:2
• “A cubit and a handbreadth”: a longer cubit Ezekiel 40:5

Historical and cultural background

The text itself shows that there were different cubits: Deuteronomy 3:11 measures Og's bed “by the cubit of a man”, and Ezekiel 40:5 uses cubits of “a cubit and a handbreadth”.

How we translate it

“Cubits” 200 times, “cubit” 41. This edition's glossary sets “cubit”; this edition leaves measures under their own names (“cubit”, “shekel”, “ephah”) and gives the equivalent in the context note, not inside the verse.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• cubits ×200
• cubit ×41
• half ×4
• measure ×1
• pivots ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×5
• Exodus×59
• Numbers×6
• Deuteronomy×3
• Joshua×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×45
• 2 Kings×3
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×25
• Nehemiah×1
• Esther×2
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×4
• Ezekiel×88
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 6:15

  And this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

• Genesis 6:16

  An opening you shall make for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from above; and the door of the ark you shall put in its side; with lower, second, and third decks you shall make it.

• Genesis 7:20

  Fifteen cubits upward the waters prevailed, and the mountains were covered.

• Exodus 25:10

  They shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

• Exodus 25:17

  You shall make a cover of expiation of pure gold: two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width.

• Exodus 25:23

  You shall make a table of acacia wood: two cubits its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

• Exodus 26:2

  The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; one measure for all the curtains.

• Exodus 26:8

  The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; one measure for the eleven curtains.

• Exodus 26:13

  And the cubit on this side and the cubit on that side, of what remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the dwelling on this side and on that side to cover it.

• Exodus 26:16

  Ten cubits shall be the length of the board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board.

• Exodus 27:1

  You shall make the altar of acacia wood: five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and three cubits its height.

• Exodus 27:9

  You shall make the courtyard of the dwelling. For the southern side, toward the south, the courtyard shall have hangings of fine twisted linen, a hundred cubits long for the one side,

• Exodus 27:12

  For the width of the courtyard on the west side there shall be hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten and their bases ten.

• Exodus 27:13

  The width of the courtyard on the east side, toward the sunrise, shall be fifty cubits.

• Exodus 27:14

  Fifteen cubits of hangings for the one side, their pillars three and their bases three;

• Exodus 27:16

  For the gate of the courtyard there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer, their pillars four and their bases four.

• Exodus 27:18

  The length of the courtyard shall be a hundred cubits, the width fifty all along, and the height five cubits, of fine twisted linen, and their bases of bronze.

• Exodus 30:2

  A cubit its length and a cubit its width; it shall be square, and two cubits its height; its horns shall be of one piece with it.

• Exodus 36:9

  The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width four cubits for each curtain; one measure for all the curtains.

• Exodus 36:15

  The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the width of each curtain; one measure for the eleven curtains.

• Exodus 36:21

  Ten cubits was the length of the board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board.

• Exodus 37:1

  And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

• Exodus 37:6

  And he made a cover of expiation of pure gold; two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its width.

• Exodus 37:10

  And he made the table of acacia wood; two cubits was its length, and a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

• Exodus 37:25

  And he made the altar of incense of acacia wood; a cubit was its length, and a cubit its width, square, and two cubits its height; of one piece with it were its horns.

• Exodus 38:1

  And he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood; five cubits was its length, and five cubits its width, square, and three cubits its height.

• Exodus 38:9

  And he made the courtyard: for the south side, the hangings of the courtyard were of twisted fine linen, a hundred cubits,

• Exodus 38:11

  And for the north side, a hundred cubits; their pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their rods were of silver.

• Exodus 38:12

  And for the west side, hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten and their bases ten; the hooks of the pillars and their rods were of silver.

• Exodus 38:13

  And for the east side, toward the sunrise, fifty cubits.

• Exodus 38:14

  Hangings of fifteen cubits for the one side; their pillars three and their bases three.

• Exodus 38:15

  And for the second side, on this side and on that side of the gate of the courtyard, hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three and their bases three.

• Exodus 38:18

  And the screen of the gate of the courtyard was the work of an embroiderer, of blue and purple and scarlet and twisted fine linen; and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in width five cubits, corresponding to the hangings of the courtyard.

• Numbers 11:31

  And a wind set out from YHWH and brought across quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on that side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground.

• Numbers 35:4

  And the pasturelands of the cities that you shall give to the Levites shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around.

• Numbers 35:5

  And you shall measure outside the city the east side two thousand cubits, and the south side two thousand cubits, and the west side two thousand cubits, and the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this shall be for them the pasturelands of the cities.

• Deuteronomy 3:11

  (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Look, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length and four cubits its width, by the cubit of a man.)

• Joshua 3:4

  But there shall be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you are to go, for you have not passed this way before.”

• 1 Samuel 17:4

  The champion came out from the camps of the Philistines; Goliath was his name, of Gath; his height was six cubits and a span.

• 1 Kings 6:2

  And the house that King Solomon built for YHWH — sixty cubits was its length, and twenty its width, and thirty cubits its height.

And 207 more times.