📖 Biblical Definition
The ephah was a standard Mosaic-law dry-measure unit — roughly 22 liters, about 20 dry quarts. It was the basket-sized container used for grain, flour, and bulk produce. The just ephah is required by the law: "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God" (Leviticus 19:36; cf. Deuteronomy 25:14-15; Ezekiel 45:10). The prophets repeatedly condemn the merchant who "maketh the ephah small, and the shekel great" (Amos 8:5). Zechariah’s vision shows wickedness personified as a woman sealed inside an ephah and carried to Shinar (Zechariah 5:5-11). The unit is now only retained in biblical translation, but the principle of honest measure abides.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Standard Mosaic dry measure (~22 liters); just-ephah was required by law.
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The standard dry-measure unit in Mosaic law, equivalent to about 22 liters (about 20 dry quarts, or 5/8 of a US bushel). Used for grain, flour, and other dry goods. The just ephah was required (Lev 19:36; Deut 25:14-15) — false weights and measures are an abomination. Zechariah 5:5-11 shows a woman (named "Wickedness") sitting in an ephah-basket carried to Babylon, a vision of evil's judgment.
📖 Key Scripture
Leviticus 19:36 — "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt."
Deuteronomy 25:13-15 — "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have."
Amos 8:5 — "Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The just-measures principle has thinned in modern commerce; "shrinkflation" is Amos 8:5 in modern dress.
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Amos 8:5 names the merchants who couldn't wait for the sabbath to end so they could cheat with small ephahs and heavy shekels. Modern "shrinkflation" — smaller package, same price — is the exact principle. The LORD hates dishonest measure.
Recover the just measure: in commerce, in promises, in time, in pay. The God who delivered Israel demands honest scales.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew ephah.
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['Hebrew', 'H374', 'ephah', 'ephah (dry measure)']
['Hebrew', 'H1969', 'hin', 'hin (liquid measure)']
Usage
"Just ephah is required; cheating measures is sin."
"Shrinkflation = Amos 8:5 in modern dress."
"The God who freed slaves demands honest scales."