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An ancient unit of weight and currency — about 11 grams of silver
40 mentions across 15 books
The standard unit of exchange in ancient Israel. A worker earned about one shekel per month. Thirty shekels (the price of a slave) was what Judas received for betraying Jesus.
The shekel appears here as the unit of the tribute Menahem demands from Israel's wealthy — fifty shekels per man, totaling a thousand silver talents paid to Assyria to buy a temporary reprieve.
The Servant Girl Who Changed Everything2 Kings 5:1-5Shekels appear here as part of the enormous payment Naaman brings — roughly six thousand pieces of gold — reflecting his assumption that a healing of this magnitude must be purchased rather than freely given.
The Siege of Samaria2 Kings 6:24-31Shekels appear here as a measure of the famine's severity — eighty shekels for a donkey's head was an obscene price that signals how completely the siege had broken Samaria's economy.
The Prophecy Fulfilled (And the Doubter's L)2 Kings 7:16-20The shekel measurement here emphasizes the exactness of Elisha's prophecy — the prices didn't just drop generally, they hit the specific numbers he named the day before, confirming divine authorship.
The shekel is used here to give concrete price tags to Solomon's trade — 600 shekels per chariot and 150 per horse, grounding the narrative in the actual scale of his commercial empire.
The Most Holy Place2 Chronicles 3:8-9Shekel appears here as the unit used to weigh the gold nails — even the fasteners used in the Most Holy Place were measured in precious metal, nothing ordinary was permitted.
Solomon's Annual Income Was Absurd2 Chronicles 9:13-16The shekel is used here as the unit measuring the staggering amount of gold hammered into each ceremonial shield — 600 shekels per large shield, 300 per smaller one.
The shekel is the unit of currency used to redeem the 273 uncovered firstborn — five shekels per person, weighed to the sanctuary standard, emphasizes God's precision: every detail of the redemption system must be exact.
Zero Casualties and a Gold OfferingNumbers 31:48-54The shekel here quantifies the commanders' staggering voluntary gift — 16,750 shekels of gold representing the combined personal wealth they surrendered as a thank offering to God.
Day 1: Nahshon of JudahNumbers 7:12-17The shekel is used here to specify the precise weights of Nahshon's silver plate (130 shekels) and silver basin (70 shekels), anchoring the offering in concrete, measurable value.
Three hundred shekels quantifies the terrifying size of Ishbi-benob's spear — roughly 7.5 pounds of bronze, a weapon that signals David is facing an extraordinary physical threat while already exhausted.
The Altar That Cost Something2 Samuel 24:18-25The shekel is the unit of payment David uses to purchase Araunah's threshing floor — fifty shekels of silver, a real transaction that underscores David's insistence on paying full price for his offering to God.
The shekel appears here as the specific monetary compensation required when an ox kills a servant — thirty shekels of silver, a detail that carries haunting resonance as the same sum later paid to betray Jesus.
The Gold, Silver, and Bronze InventoryExodus 38:24-31The shekel appears here as the unit of measurement for the gold inventory — 730 shekels alongside 29 talents quantifying the precise amount of gold the people donated for sanctuary construction.
The shekel appears here as the unit that reveals the transaction's true nature — four hundred shekels was a premium price, which Ephron named casually to make it sound trivial.
The Care PackageGenesis 45:21-24Three hundred shekels of silver is the specific sum Joseph gives Benjamin — a significant amount of currency that far exceeds what the other brothers receive, marking Benjamin as specially honored.
The shekel appears here as the currency unit anchoring the official valuation chart — fifty shekels for a prime-age male sets the top of the scale for person-dedication vows.
Messing with Holy Things (The Guilt Offering)Leviticus 5:14-16The shekel is used here as the valuation standard for the guilt offering ram — specifically the sanctuary shekel, which ensures the offering meets God's own standard rather than a market rate that might be manipulated.
The third-of-a-shekel annual Temple tax is the specific monetary commitment being pledged here — a modest but consistent contribution from a community rebuilding from economic scratch after exile.
Nehemiah's ReceiptsNehemiah 5:14-16The shekel quantifies exactly how heavily previous governors had burdened the people — forty shekels of silver per day — making Nehemiah's refusal to collect anything a measurable and dramatic act of financial sacrifice.