Ezekiel 45:12

12 The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. [a] Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one 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 must use honest scales, a just ephah, and a just bath.
11 The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure for both.
12 The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
13 This is the contribution you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.
14 The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (a cor consists of ten baths or one homer, since ten baths are equivalent to a homer).

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. 20 gerahs is equivalent to one shekel (approximately 0.4 ounces or 11.4 grams).
  • [b]. That is, 60 shekels total; elsewhere, the common mina was 50 shekels. Sixty shekels weighed approximately 1.5 pounds or 683.8 grams.
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