Topic
Cubit
10 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Deuteronomy 3:11ISBE · Nave A measure of distance
For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
- Judges 3:16Easton · ISBE
But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
- Ezekiel 40:5ISBE · Nave A measure of distance
And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
- Matthew 6:27ISBE · Nave Who can add to his height
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
- Luke 12:25ISBE · Nave Who can add to his height
And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
- Revelation 21:17ISBE · Nave A measure of distance
And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
- Genesis 6:16Nave A measure of distance
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
- 2 Chronicles 3:3ISBE
¶ Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.
- Ezekiel 43:13Nave A measure of distance
¶ And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the…
- John 21:18ISBE
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 1 references
Heb. ‘ammah; i.e., “mother of the arm,” the fore-arm, is a word derived from the Latin cubitus, the lower arm. It is difficult to determine the exact length of this measure, from the uncertainty whether it included the entire length from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger, or only from the elbow to the root of the hand at the wrist. The probability is that the longer was the original cubit. The common computation as to the length of the cubit makes it 20.24 inches for the ordinary cubit, and 21.888 inches for the sacred one. This is the same as the Egyptian measurements.
A rod or staff the measure of a cubit is called in Judg. 3:16 gomed, which literally means a “cut,” something “cut off.” The LXX. and Vulgate render it “span.”
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 0 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 9 references
ku'-bit ('ammah; pechus): The standard for measures of length among the Hebrews. They derived it from the Babylonians, but a similar measure was used in Egypt with which they must have been familiar. The length of the cubit is variously estimated, since there seems to have been a double standard in both countries, and because we have no undisputed example of the cubit remaining to the present time. The original cubit was the length of the forearm, from the elbow to the end of the middle finger, as is implied from the derivation of the word in Hebrew and in Latin (cubitum). It seems to be referred to also in De 3:11: "after the cubit of a man." But this was too indefinite for a scientific standard, and the Babylonians early adopted a more accurate method of measurement which passed to the nations of the West. They had a double standard, the so-called royal cubit and the ordinary one. From the remains of buildings in Assyria and Babylonia, the former is made out to be about 20,6 inches, and a cubit of similar length was used in Egypt and must have been known to the Hebrews. This was probably the cubit mentioned by Eze 40:5 and perhaps that of Solomon's temple, "cubits after the first measure" (2Ch 3:3), i.e. the ancient cubit. The ordinary cubit of commerce was shorter, and has been variously estimated at between 16 and 18 or more inches, but the evidence of the Siloam inscription and of the tombs in Palestine seems to indicate 17,6 inches as the average length. See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. This was the cubit of six palms, while the longer one was of seven (Eze 40:5). The cubit mentioned in Jud 3:16 is from a different word in Hebrew (gomedh) and was probably shorter, for Ehud girded it on his thigh under his clothing.
The New Testament references are Mt 6:27; Lu 12:25, "Which of you .... can add a cubit unto the measure of his life?"; Joh 21:18, "about two hundred cubits off"; Re 21:17, "the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits."
H. Porter
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.