Joshua 7:21 · measurement explained
Two hundred shekels of silver and a fifty-shekel gold bar
Achan's confession names a garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a gold bar weighing fifty shekels among the concealed goods.
Read the verse first
When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”
World English Bible · engwebp-source-2026-09-12
Modern measurement range
Silver: two hundred shekels
1.9–2.8 kg
4.19–6.17 lb
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 →Gold bar: fifty shekels
475–700 g
1.05–1.54 lb
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 →The weights communicate material scale. They do not make the silver and gold economically equivalent, and no current currency value is implied.
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.