Exodus 21:32 · measurement explained
Thirty shekels of silver
The legal case sets thirty shekels of silver as the payment when an ox kills an enslaved man or woman, while also requiring the ox to be stoned.
Read the verse first
If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
World English Bible · engwebp-source-2026-09-12
Modern measurement range
Thirty shekels
285–420 g
10.05–14.82 oz
Using the shekel by weight estimate. Merchant, sanctuary, royal, regional, and later coin standards differed. The broad range prevents a single 11 g reference estimate from being treated as universal.
Calculate another amount →Converting the silver weight makes the stated amount legible; it does not endorse the ancient social institution or establish an equivalent modern damages award.
What this conversion does—and does not—show
It gives a defensible modern scale for the amount stated in the verse. Ancient standards varied by time and place, so the endpoints are deliberately approximate. A volume is not a food mass, a metal weight is not a modern cash value, and a conversion does not settle a textual, archaeological, or theological debate.
Conversion references: ESV weights and measures ↗, American Bible Society ↗, and Encyclopedia of the Bible ↗. Reference pages accessed October 10, 2026.