shekel · shekel

What it means

shekel (שֶׁקֶל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “shekel”.

A weight of about 11 grams. Since there were no coins, silver was weighed, so a shekel is also an amount of money.

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. A weight of about 11 grams for silver.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Shekel: a unit of weight, above all for silver; since silver was weighed, it is also an amount of money. It comes from שָׁקַל, “weigh”.

• The price of a plot of land or a purchase Genesis 23:152 Samuel 24:24
• The half shekel “by the shekel of the sanctuary” Exodus 30:13
• Sums in the laws Exodus 21:32Leviticus 27:3
• Weights of objects 1 Samuel 17:5
• The shekel and its divisions in Ezekiel Ezekiel 45:12

Historical and cultural background

The text gives the equivalence: “the shekel is twenty gerahs” (Exodus 30:13; Ezekiel 45:12). Abraham paid four hundred shekels of silver for the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23:15-16), and David fifty shekels for the threshing floor of Araunah (2 Samuel 24:24).

How we translate it

“Shekels” 46 times and “shekel” 42. The name of the Hebrew unit is kept, because it is a measure of its own; often the text adds “of silver”, and at times the translation supplies “{shekels}” where the Hebrew gives only the number.

How it is translated

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

• shekels ×46
• shekel ×42

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Exodus×14
• Leviticus×14
• Numbers×33
• Joshua×2
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×2
• 2 Kings×7
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Jeremiah×1
• Ezekiel×5
• Amos×1

• Genesis 23:15

  “My lord, hear me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, between me and you, what is that? So bury your dead.”

• Genesis 23:16

  Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current among the merchants.

• Exodus 21:32

  If the ox gores a male slave or a female slave, he shall give thirty shekels of silver to his master, and the ox shall be stoned.

• Exodus 30:13

  This they shall give, everyone who passes over to those numbered: half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to YHWH.

• Exodus 30:15

  The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when giving the contribution of YHWH to make expiation for your lives.

• Exodus 30:24

  and of cassia five hundred, by the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin.

• Exodus 38:24

  All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary, the gold of the wave offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary.

• Exodus 38:25

  And the silver of those counted of the community was a hundred talents and a thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary:

• Exodus 38:26

  a beka per head, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

• Exodus 38:29

  And the bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

• Leviticus 5:15

  “When a person acts unfaithfully and sins inadvertently in regard to the holy things of YHWH, he shall bring his guilt offering to YHWH, a ram without defect from the flock, by your valuation in shekels of silver, by the shekel of the sanctuary, as a guilt offering.

• Leviticus 27:3

  the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be a valuation of fifty shekels of silver, by the shekel of the sanctuary.

• Leviticus 27:4

  And if it is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels.

• Leviticus 27:5

  And if from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation of the male shall be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

• Leviticus 27:6

  And if from a month old up to five years old, the valuation of the male shall be five shekels of silver, and for the female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver.

• Leviticus 27:7

  And if from sixty years old and upward, if a male, the valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

• Leviticus 27:16

  And if a man consecrates to YHWH part of the field of his possession, the valuation shall be according to its seed: a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver.

• Leviticus 27:25

  And every valuation shall be by the shekel of the sanctuary; twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

• Numbers 3:47

  you shall take five shekels apiece per head; you shall take them by the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel being twenty gerahs.

• Numbers 3:50

  From the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the silver, one thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary.

• Numbers 7:13

  And his offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:19

  He presented his offering: one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:25

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:31

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:37

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:43

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:49

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:55

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:61

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:67

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:73

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:79

  His offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;

• Numbers 7:85

  each silver plate weighing one hundred thirty shekels and each basin seventy; all the silver of the utensils was two thousand four hundred shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary;

• Numbers 7:86

  twelve gold spoons full of incense, ten shekels apiece per spoon, by the shekel of the sanctuary; all the gold of the spoons was one hundred twenty shekels;

• Numbers 18:16

  And their redemption price: from a month old you shall redeem them, at your valuation, for silver, five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

• Numbers 31:52

  And all the gold of the contribution that they set apart for YHWH was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels, from the commanders of thousands and from the commanders of hundreds.

• Joshua 7:21

  I saw among the spoil one fine cloak from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and one tongue of gold whose weight was fifty shekels; and I coveted them and took them. And look, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under it.”

• 1 Samuel 9:8

  And the young man answered Saul again and said, “Look, there is found in my hand a quarter of a shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of Elohim, and he will tell us our way.”

• 1 Samuel 17:5

  A helmet of bronze was on his head, and with a coat of scales he was clothed; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.

• 1 Samuel 17:7

  The shaft of his spear was like a beam of weavers, and the point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and the one who carried the shield was going before him.

And 48 more times.