What is a…
“measure” in the Bible

Several words are translated as “measure” in the King James Version.

Definite measures

• 'Eyphah, Deuteronomy 25:14-15, usually “ephah.”

• Ammah, Jeremiah 51:13, usually “cubit.”

• Kor, 1 Kings 4:22, elsewhere “cor;” Greek: koros, Luke 16:7.

• Seah, Genesis 18:6; 1 Samuel 25:18, a seah; Greek: saton, Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:21.

• Shalish, “a great measure,” Isaiah 40:12; literally a third, i.e., of an ephah.

• In New Testament batos, Luke 16:6, the Hebrew “bath;” and choinix, Rev. 6:6, the choenix, equal in dry commodities to ⅛ of a modius.

Indefinite measures

• Hok, Isaiah 5:14, elsewhere “statute.”

• Mad, Job 11:9; Jeremiah 13:25, elsewhere “garment.”

• Middah, the word most frequently thus translated, Exodus 26:2, 8, etc.

• Mesurah, Leviticus 19:35; 1 Chronicles 23:29.

• Mishpat, Jeremiah 30:11, elsewhere “judgment.”

• Mithkoneth and token, Ezek. 45:11.

• In the New Testament, metron, the usual Greek word thus translated (Matthew 7:2; 23:32; Mark 4:24).