The ephah is a measure used for quantities such as grain. It appears in worship instructions, ordinary provision, and accusations of dishonest trade, so the container or unit must be read with the transaction it measures.
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Reader summary
Full entry for אֵיפָה (H374) · Open the biblical lexicon
The ephah is a measure used for quantities such as grain. It appears in worship instructions, ordinary provision, and accusations of dishonest trade, so the container or unit must be read with the transaction it measures.
The BSB source-word alignment has 40 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of an ephah (9), an ephah (5), ephah (4), the basket (4), per ephah (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 16:36. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (17), Zechariah (5), Deuteronomy (3), Leviticus (3).
The ephah is a measure used for quantities such as grain. It appears in worship instructions, ordinary provision, and accusations of dishonest trade, so the container or unit must be read with the transaction it measures. Ruth's gathered barley is described as about an ephah after she works in Boaz's field and receives his practical generosity. Leviticus commands an honest ephah beside other accurate measures.
Amos exposes merchants who plan to shrink the grain measure while enlarging the payment demanded from needy buyers. The word therefore makes fairness tangible: a buyer's hunger can be harmed through a small alteration in the measure. It does not make one volume an automatic spiritual symbol or a universal promise of abundance. Its ethical force comes from God's commands and the prophet's description of exploitation.
A grain measure helps describe Ruth's provision, becomes an object of commanded honesty in Leviticus, and exposes a concrete mechanism of cheating in Amos. Amount, accuracy, and conduct are related but distinct concerns.
You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
The honest ephah stands beside honest scales, weights, and hin within the command against false measures, grounded in the Lord's deliverance from Egypt.
So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. And when she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley.
Ruth threshes about an ephah of barley after a day of gleaning and Boaz's instructions for additional stalks, showing actual provision for her household.
Asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
Merchants plan a smaller ephah and larger payment while impatiently waiting for worship days to end; the surrounding accusation concerns trampling poor people.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. A dry measure for grain, expanding figuratively to represent any standard of measurement or divine apportionment.
A dry measure for grain, expanding figuratively to represent any standard of measurement or divine apportionment.
an ephah or measure for grain; hence, a measure in general BDB: ephah Usage: ephah, (divers) measure(-s).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 40 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The ephah places moral responsibility within a transaction that might otherwise look routine. Leviticus insists that the grain measure be honest because Israel belongs to the God who brought His people out of Egypt. Amos shows how a seller can turn that ordinary instrument into a means of oppression: give less grain and demand more payment. A technically small change can therefore have a serious human consequence.
Ruth's measured barley offers another scene, where effort and Boaz's generosity result in food she can carry to Naomi. Teaching should preserve these different movements rather than attach one meaning to every measured quantity. Honest commerce and practical provision are fitting responses to God's commands, but neither is a technique for purchasing salvation or guaranteeing financial increase.
Lev.19.36
The Hebrew lexical witness identifies a grain-volume measure. Relative quantities can be read from the passage, but a precise modern capacity requires historical evidence not supplied by the word itself.
James 5 condemns withholding laborers' wages, giving a contextual comparison with Amos' concern for those harmed by economic practices. Both call wrongdoing by its actual shape. Neither passage makes its particular transaction the definition of every commercial relationship or a method of earning reconciliation with God.