What is a…
Gerah
Hebrew: גֵּרָה֙ —transliteration: gerah —meaning: a grain or kernel, and hence a small weight; the smallest weight; one-twentieth of a shekel
It was a bean, probably of the carob tree.
This was the smallest weight and also the smallest piece of money among the Hebrews, equal to the twentieth part of a shekel (Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47). It was the twentieth part of a shekel, and equal to 12 grains.
This word came into use in the same way as our modern word “grain,” from a grain of wheat. Our grain is a unit measurement of mass—“a unit of mass equal to 64.79891 milligrams, or 1⁄7,000 of an avoirdupois pound. It is nominally based upon the mass of a single ideal seed of a cereal. In both British Imperial units and United States customary units, there are precisely 7,000 grains per avoirdupois pound, and 5,760 grains per troy pound or apothecaries’ pound.” Today, grains are often used to measure the mass of bullets, their propellants and arrows.
More information
- Biblical Weights and Measures
- What is a shekel?
- About money in the Bible
- Plants of the Bible