Length and Distance
The original measures of length were clearly derived from the human body — the finger, hand, arm, span, foot, and pace — but since these measures differ between individuals, they are reduced to a certain standard for general use. The Israelite system thus used divisions of the fingerbreadth(Hebrew: אצבע, Etzba; plural etzba'ot), palm (Hebrew: טפח, Tefah/Tefach; plural Tefahim/Tefachim), span (Hebrew: זרת, Zeret), ell (Hebrew: אמה, Amah, plural Amot), mile (Hebrew: מיל, Mil; plural milin), and parsa (Hebrew: פרסה, Parasa). The latter two are loan words into the Hebrew language, and borrowed measurements - the Latin mile, and Persian Parasang, respectively; the Persian Parasang was approximately (but not exactly) equal to 4 Roman miles.
The Israelite measurements were related as follows:
- 1 palm (Tefah) = 4 fingerbreadths (Etzba'ot)
- 1 span (Zeret) = 3 palms (Tefahim)
- 1 ell (Amah) = 2 spans (Zeret)
- 1 mil (Mil) = 2000 ells (Amot)
- 1 parasang (Parasa) = 4 mils (Milin)
Read more about this topic: Biblical And Talmudic Units Of Measurement
Famous quotes containing the words length and/or distance:
“With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.”
—Bible: Hebrew Job 12:12.
“Though there were numerous vessels at this great distance in the horizon on every side, yet the vast spaces between them, like the spaces between the stars,—far as they were distant from us, so were they from one another,—nay, some were twice as far from each other as from us,—impressed us with a sense of the immensity of the ocean, the “unfruitful ocean,” as it has been called, and we could see what proportion man and his works bear to the globe.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)