Bible Weights & Measures Converter
Convert cubits, spans, shekels, ephahs, hins, talents, and more biblical units to modern Metric or US measurements — instantly, no signup.
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Worked examples from Scripture
A few well-known biblical measurements, converted:
| Noah's ark: 300 cubits long (Genesis 6:15) | 133.5 m (437.5 ft) |
| Noah's ark: 50 cubits wide | 22.25 m (72.9 ft) |
| Noah's ark: 30 cubits high | 13.35 m (43.75 ft) |
| Goliath: "six cubits and a span" tall (1 Samuel 17:4) | ~2.89 m (~9.5 ft) |
| 1 talent of silver (Hebrew) | 34.2 kg (75.5 lb) |
| 1 ephah of flour | 22 L (20 dry qt) |
| 1 hin of oil or wine | 3.67 L (7.75 pt) |
Goliath's height varies slightly by Bible translation and ancient manuscript, since the underlying Hebrew figure itself has minor textual variants — this uses the commonly cited "six cubits and a span."
Where these values come from
Ancient Hebrew and Greek units weren't tied to a fixed international standard the way a modern meter or kilogram is, so every conversion here is a scholarly approximation, not an exact figure. The values used match those given in the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's Insight on the Scriptures, which draws on archaeological evidence — inscribed shekel weights, jar fragments marked with the Hebrew word for "bath," and the Bible's own stated relationships between units (for example, the text specifies that 1 homer equals 10 ephahs) — along with other ancient writings.
Length: from the human body
Hebrew linear measures were derived from body parts: a fingerbreadth, a handbreadth (4 fingerbreadths), a span (3 handbreadths), and a cubit (2 spans, roughly elbow to fingertip). Because each unit is a fixed multiple of the one before it, archaeological evidence for the cubit's length (about 44.5 cm) fixes the whole scale. A "long cubit" (7 handbreadths instead of 6) also appears in the Bible and was somewhat longer.
Volume: dry goods vs. liquids
The same physical capacity was often described with different unit names depending on whether it measured dry goods (grain, flour) or liquids (oil, wine) — a cab appears in both the dry and liquid charts at the same 1.22 L capacity. Nearly everything scales from the bath measure (about 22 L), reconstructed from ancient jar fragments stamped with the Hebrew word for "bath."
Weight: also ancient currency
Before coined money was common, the shekel, mina, and talent were units of weight used to measure out silver or gold as payment — "shekel" itself comes from a Hebrew root meaning "to weigh." That's why these appear as both weights and (indirectly) sums of money throughout the Bible. Note that the Hebrew talent (about 34.2 kg) and the later Greek talent (about 20.4 kg) are different weights despite sharing a name — check which one a given passage is using before comparing figures.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a cubit?
About 44.5 cm (17.5 in) for the common cubit, based on archaeological evidence. A "long cubit" mentioned in a few passages was about 51.8 cm (20.4 in), and a "short cubit" (the term used for the length of Ehud's sword in Judges 3:16) was about 38 cm (15 in).
How much did a talent weigh?
It depends which talent: the Hebrew talent was about 34.2 kg (75.5 lb), while the Greek talent used in Christian Greek Scripture passages (like the "parable of the talents") was lighter, about 20.4 kg (44.8 lb).
Are these conversions exact?
No — they're the best scholarly approximations available, mainly from archaeological finds. Ancient measurement systems weren't standardized the way metric or US customary units are today, so actual cubits, shekels, and the like likely varied somewhat by period, region, and even by whose forearm the original measure was based on.
Why do dry and liquid measures use different pint and quart sizes?
This mirrors a real quirk of the US customary system itself: a US dry pint/quart and a US liquid pint/quart are different sizes from each other. This tool shows the imperial equivalent using whichever of the two matches how that particular unit was historically used (dry goods vs. liquids).