Weights

Hebrew weights were based on the shekel as the standard unit, with subdivisions and multiples used in trade and in the Mosaic law. The gerah was the smallest unit (one-twentieth of a shekel; Exodus 30:13); the shekel equalled twenty gerahs; the maneh (mina) equalled fifty shekels; and the talent equalled sixty minas or three thousand shekels. A "shekel of the sanctuary" (Exodus 30:13, 24; 38:24–26) was used for official temple calculations. Actual weights were typically made of stone — the "stones" mentioned in Leviticus 19:36 and Deuteronomy 25:13–15 refer to stone weight-standards. The Bible repeatedly condemns the use of falsified weights: Leviticus 19:35–36, Proverbs 11:1, 16:11, 20:23, and Micah 6:11 all denounce "divers weights" (a heavy stone for buying, a light one for selling) as an abomination to the LORD — a form of economic fraud violating covenant justice. Archaeological finds of inscribed stone weights from Iron Age Israel confirm the system described in Scripture.