Ezekiel 45:12

12 1The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;[a] twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.[b]

Ezekiel 45:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 45:12

And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs
This is a rule for money or coin; the shekel was a silver coin, and is generally reckoned about the value of two shillings and six pence of our money, so a gerah about three half pennies: Bishop Cumberland reckons the shekel more exactly at two shillings and four pence farthing, and a little more, and the gerah at eleven grains of silver; see ( Leviticus 27:25 ) : twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your
maneh;
these were several pieces of money; one was a twenty shekel piece, which according to the common account was fifty shillings of our money; another was a five and twenty shekel piece, which was three pounds, two shillings, and sixpence; and a third was a fifteen shekel piece, which was one pound thirteen and sixpence; and together made a maneh or pound, which consisted of sixty shekels, or seven pounds, ten shillings; by which the other pieces should be tried, whether they were of just weight: the sense of the whole is, that no adulteration of coin should be made, which is very prejudicial in civil affairs.

Ezekiel 45:12 In-Context

10 "You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.
11 The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one tenth of a homer, and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure.
12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
13 "This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley,
14 and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each cor (the cor, like the homer, contains ten baths).

Cross References 1

  • 1. See Exodus 30:13

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram
  • [b]. A mina was about 1 1/4 pounds or 0.6 kilogram
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.