Kesitah

Kesitah (Hebrew qĕśîṭâ) was an ancient unit of monetary value mentioned three times in the Old Testament—Genesis 33:19, Joshua 24:32, and Job 42:11. The term is of uncertain meaning and has been translated variously as a piece of money, a piece of silver, a lamb, or a unit of exchange. The Septuagint renders it as amnos (lamb) in Genesis, suggesting a connection to livestock values, while the Vulgate gives agnus (lamb) as well—indicating the ancient translators understood it as a lamb-equivalent unit of exchange.

In each of its three occurrences, the kesitah appears as a unit of commercial transaction: Jacob paid one hundred kesitahs for the plot of ground at Shechem where he pitched his tent; Joshua buried Joseph's bones on this same purchased ground; and Job's comforters each brought him a gold ring and one kesitah after his restoration. The kesitah may represent a pre-coinage form of commodity money, where livestock or a standardized weight of precious metal served as the unit of exchange. Its archaic nature and limited occurrences suggest it was an early monetary form that fell out of common use as weighed silver replaced it.