Measures of length
Human-made Things in the Bible
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Old Testament
Name: Reed, rod (qaneh)
Equivalence: 6 cubits
Metric: 3 meters
Imperial: 10 feet
Name: Cubit (’amah)
Equivalence: ——
Metric: 50 centimeters
Imperial: 18 inches
Name: Span (zereth)
Equivalence: 0.5 cubit
Metric: 23 centimeters
Imperial: 9 inches
Name: Palm (tefach)
Equivalence: 0.16 cubit
Metric: 8 centimeters
Imperial: 3 inches
Name: Finger (’etsba‘)
Equivalence: 0.04 cubit
Metric: 2 centimeters
Imperial: 0.75 inch
New Testament and Deuterocanon
Name: Schoinos
Equivalence: 30 stadia
Metric: 5.6 kilometers
Imperial: 3.5 miles
Name: Mile (milion)
Equivalence: 8 stadia
Metric: 1,480 meters
Imperial: 4,850 feet
Name: Sabbath day’s journey
Equivalence: 2,000 cubits
Metric: 1 kilometer
Imperial: 1,000 yards
Name: Stadium, furlong (stadion)
Equivalence: ——
Metric: 185 meters
Imperial: 600 feet
Name: Fathom (orguia)
Equivalence: 0.1 stadium
Metric: 1.85 meters
Imperial: 6 feet
Name: Pēchus
Equivalence: 1 cubit
Metric: 50 centimeters
Imperial: 18 inches
In this category
Sources
Plants and Trees in the Bible, Animals in the Bible and Human-made Things in the Bible © United Bible Societies, 2025 (adapted from Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible by Robert Koops, All Creatures Great and Small: Living Things in the Bible by Edward R. Hope, and The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible by Ray Pritz), CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted for eRhema