Hebrew word · H4488

מָנֶה

manim

mina

A large unit of weight, the 'mina,' standing between the shekel and the talent. It is probably related to מנה, 'to count or apportion.' Its value varied by region and period: 60 shekels in the Mesopotamian base-sixty system, while the evidence for Israel's older system points to 50.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) maneh, mina, pound

1a) 60 shekels and 1/50 talent (of silver)

1a1) 1/60 talent in early Babylonian standard

1b) 100 shekels and 1/100 talent (of gold)

Aramaic equivalent: me.ne (מְנֵא "mina" H4484)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezekiel 45:12

Range of meaning

A large unit of weight, the 'mina,' standing between the shekel and the talent. It is probably related to מנה, 'to count or apportion.' Its value varied by region and period: 60 shekels in the Mesopotamian base-sixty system, while the evidence for Israel's older system points to 50.

Against the English

KJV and YLT transliterate it as 'maneh,' which most readers cannot interpret. Modern versions use 'mina,' the Greek-derived form. Neither tells the reader it is a weight of roughly half a kilogram or more, not a sum of coins.

How it drifted

The New Testament parable of the minas (Luke 19) shows the Greek mna as a money sum worth many days' wages. Readers can carry that money sense back to Ezekiel, where it is a weight.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Kgs 10:17 (minas of gold); Ezra 2:69; Neh 7:71–72. Akkadian manû and Greek mna (borrowed from the Semitic word). Exod 38:25–26 implies a talent of 3,000 shekels. Since a talent is commonly 60 minas, that points to a 50-shekel mina in older Israelite reckoning. Ugarit's documents also seem to reckon a mina of 50 shekels (a point argued in the literature, not settled).

From the study of Nehemiah 7:72

Range of meaning

A weight standard used across the Near East (Akkadian manû). It equalled 50 shekels in common reckoning, or 60 in some systems (Ezek 45:12 gives a total of 60). That is very roughly 0.5–0.6 kg. Sixty minas made a talent.

Against the English

KJV 'pound' (a fair weight approximation; a mina is a little over one pound avoirdupois); modern versions keep 'minas'; NLT converts to modern pounds.

How it drifted

KJV's 'two thousand pound of silver' can be heard as British money (pounds sterling) rather than a weight. As a weight it actually understates the amount slightly.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in Mesopotamian economic texts. In the Bible it appears in 1 Kings 10:17, Ezek 45:12, Ezra 2:69, and in the Aramaic 'mene' of Dan 5:25.

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 10:17 מָנִים֙ minas

    He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 2:69 מָנִ֖ים minas

    According to their ability, they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priestly garments.

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 7:71 מָנִ֖ים minas

    And some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the project 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver.

  2. Nehemiah 7:72 מָנִ֣ים minas

    The rest of the people gave a total of 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver, and 67 priestly garments.

    Here: The mina was a weight of about 50–60 shekels, very roughly half a kilogram or a little more. 2,000 minas comes to something like a metric ton of silver.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 45:12 הַמָּנֶ֖ה the mina

    The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.

    Here: The larger unit, made up of shekels. It is related to the verb 'to count' or 'to allot.' 'The' again marks the official standard. In this verse it is fixed at 60 shekels.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.