Dry measures

Modern Equivalent

1 log = 1/4 cab .56 dry pint (.31 liter)

1 cab = 4 logs 2.2 dry pints (1.22 liters)

1 omer = 1 4/5 cabs 2 dry quarts (2.2 liters)

1 seah = 3 1/3 omers .21 bushel (7.33 liters)

1 ephah = 3 seahs .62 bushel (22 liters)

1 homer = 10 ephahs 6.2 bushels (220 liters)

Other dry and liquid measures

The Hebrew word ʽis·sa·rohnʹ, meaning “tenth,” often denotes a tenth of an ephah. (Ex. 29:40; Lev. 14:10; 23:13, 17; Num. 15:4) According to rabbinical sources, the “six measures of barley” (literally, “six of barley”) mentioned at Ruth 3:15 are six seah measures. On the authority of the Mishnah and the Vulgate, the Hebrew term leʹthekh is understood to designate a half homer. (Hos. 3:2; AS, AV, Da, JP, Le, NW) The Greek terms me·tre·tesʹ (appearing in the plural at John 2:6 and rendered “liquid measures” [NW]) and baʹtos (found in the plural at Luke 16:6) are equated by some with the Hebrew bath measure. The Greek khoiʹnix (“quart,” NW) is commonly thought to be slightly more than a liter or a little less than a U.S. dry quart.—Rev. 6:5, 6.

WEIGHTS

Archaeological evidence suggests that a shekel weighed about .4 ounce avoirdupois (c. .367 ounce troy; c. 11.4 grams). Using this as a basis, the chart that follows sets forth the relationship of the Hebrew weights and their approximate modern equivalent.

Modern Equivalent

1 gerah = 1/20 shekel .02 ounce avdp. (.57 gram)

1 bekah = 10 gerahs .2 ounce avdp. (5.7 grams)

(half shekel)

1 shekel = 2 bekahs .4 ounce avdp. (11.4 grams)

1 mina = 50 shekels 1.25 pounds avdp. (570 grams)

(maneh)

1 talent = 60 minas 75 pounds avdp. (34 kilograms)

The Greek word liʹtra is generally equated with the Roman pound (c. 11.4 ounces avdp.; c. 327 grams). The mina of the Christian Greek Scriptures is reckoned at 100 drachmas. (See DRACHMA.) This would mean that the Greek mina weighed about 11.9 ounces avoirdupois (340 grams) and the Greek talent, about 45 pounds avoirdupois (20.4 kilograms).—See GERAH; MINA; MONEY; SHEKEL; TALENT.

AREA

The Hebrews designated the size of a plot of land either by the amount of seed needed to sow it (Lev. 27:16; 1 Ki. 18:32) or by what a span of bulls could plow in a day.—1 Sam. 14:14, NW, 1955 ed., ftn.; see ACRE.

WELL

This translates the Hebrew word b^eʼerʹ, which usually designates a pit or hole sunk into the ground to tap a natural supply of water. The term b^eʼerʹ appears in such place-names as Beer-lahai-roi (Gen. 16:14), Beer-sheba (Gen. 21:14), Beer (Num. 21:16-18) and Beer-elim. (Isa. 15:8) This word may also mean “pit” (Gen. 14:10) and, at Psalms 55:23 (“pit”) and 69:15 (“well”), seems to denote the grave. It is used metaphorically to refer to a wife or a beloved woman. (Prov. 5:15 [“cistern”]; Song of Sol. 4:15 [“well”]) And Proverbs 23:27, where the foreign woman is likened to a narrow well, may allude to the fact that obtaining water from such a well often involves difficulties, and earthenware jars break readily on its sides.—See FOUNTAIN, SPRING.

In lands having a long dry season, particularly wilderness regions, from earliest times wells have been of great importance. Anciently, the unauthorized use of wells appears to have been viewed as an invasion of property rights. (Num. 20:17, 19; 21:22) The scarcity of water and the labor entailed in digging wells made them valuable property. Not infrequently did the possession of wells give rise to violent disputes and strife. For this reason the patriarch Abraham, on one occasion, formally established his ownership of a well at Beer-sheba. (Gen. 21:25-31; 26:20, 21) However, after his death the Philistines disregarded the rights of his son and heir Isaac and stopped up the very wells that Abraham’s servants had dug.—Gen. 26:15, 18.

Wells were frequently surrounded by low walls and kept covered with a large stone, doubtless to keep out dirt and to prevent animals and persons from falling into them. (Gen. 29:2, 3; Ex. 2:15, 16) Near some wells there were drinking troughs or gutters for watering domestic animals. (Gen. 24:20; Ex. 2:16-19) Throughout the hills of Palestine, wells were dug in the limestone, and steps, leading down to the water, were often cut in the rock. In some wells, after descending, the one drawing water simply dipped a vessel directly into it. However, from very deep sources water was commonly drawn up by means of a leather bucket (Num. 24:7) or an earthenware jar (Gen. 24:16) suspended from a rope.—See JACOB’S FOUNTAIN.

WEST

The Hebrews indicated direction from the viewpoint of a person facing E. Thus the west was behind them and might be implied by the Hebrew word ʼa·hhohrʹ, meaning “behind.”—Isa. 9:12.

Most often “west” (or “westward, western”) is denoted by the Hebrew word yam (meaning “sea,” as at Joshua 1:4), evidently because the Great or Mediterranean Sea lay in that direction from the Promised Land. (Gen. 28:14; Ex. 10:19; 38:12; Num. 34:6; Zech. 14:4) The context must be considered to determine whether yam means “sea” or denotes the west.—Josh. 15:8-12; 2 Chron. 4:2-4, 15.

Another Hebrew word (ma·ʽaravʹ) is used to denote either the sunset (Isa. 43:5; 59:19) or the west. (1 Chron. 26:30; 2 Chron. 32:30) It is used to help convey the thought of great distance in the comforting assurance of Jehovah’s mercy toward imperfect humans: “As far off as the sunrise is from the sunset, so far off from us he has put our transgressions.”—Ps. 103:12.

When Jesus said that many would come “from eastern parts and western parts” to recline at the table in the Kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Greek text at Matthew 8:11 says literally “from risings and settings.” Here the Greek word dy·smeʹ relates to the direction of the sunset, that is, the west. (Kingdom Interlinear Translation) Dy·smeʹ is also used elsewhere to denote the west.—Matt. 24:27; Luke 12:54; 13:29; Rev. 21:13.

WHEAT

An important cereal crop that has long supplied man with a valuable item of diet and has at times even in recent years, as anciently, been sold at a price double or triple that of barley. (Compare 2 Kings 7:1, 16, 18; Revelation 6:6.) Wheat, either by itself or mixed with other grains, was commonly made into bread. (Ex. 29:2; Ezek. 4:9) This cereal could also be eaten raw (Matt. 12:1) and was made into grits by crushing its kernels. Especially the green ears of wheat were prepared by roasting. (Lev. 2:14; 2 Sam. 17:28) Wheat was exacted as tribute from defeated tribes or nations (2 Chron. 27:5), and figured in offerings made to Jehovah.—1 Chron. 23:29; Ezra 6:9, 10.

The plant itself, when young, resembles grass and is bright green. Mature wheat, however, may measure from two to five feet (.6 to 1.5 meters) in height and is golden brown. Its leaves are long and slender, and the central stem terminates in a head of kernels. One variety of wheat cultivated in Egypt of old, and still encountered there, has several ears per stalk. (Compare Genesis 41:22, 23.) The varieties of wheat that have been commonly cultivated in Palestine in more recent years, and likely also in Bible times, are bearded, that is, having coarse, prickly hairs on the husks of the kernels.

True to God’s promise, the Israelites found Palestine to be a land of wheat and barley. (Deut. 8:8; 32:14; Ps. 81:16; 147:14) Not only did they have enough for themselves but they also were able to export grain. (2 Chron. 2:8-10, 15) In Ezekiel’s time, commodities from Judah and Israel, including “wheat of Minnith,” were being traded in Tyre.—Ezek. 27:17.

Wheat was sown in Palestine about the same time as the barley, in the month of Bul (October-November), after the early fall rains had sufficiently softened the soil for plowing. (Isa. 28:24, 25) The wheat harvest followed the barley harvest (Ruth 2:23; compare Exodus 9:31, 32), and was closely associated with the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost in the month of Sivan (May-June), at which time two leavened loaves made of wheat flour were presented as a wave offering to Jehovah. (Ex. 34:22; Lev. 23:17) After the wheat was threshed, winnowed and sifted, it was often stored in underground pits, a practice perhaps alluded to at Jeremiah 41:8.

The Bible also makes illustrative reference to wheat. It is used to represent persons acceptable to Jehovah, “the sons of the kingdom.” (Matt. 3:12; 13:24-30, 37, 38; Luke 3:17) Both Jesus and the apostle Paul mentioned wheat in illustrating the resurrection. (John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:35-38) And Jesus likened the test to come upon his disciples, as a result of the trials he was about to undergo, to the sifting of wheat.—Luke 22:31.

WHEEL

The exact historical origin of the wheel is not known. Anciently, wooden planks were pegged together, rounded and furnished with a felloe or rim to form the early wheel. The spoked type was used on chariots, wagons and other vehicles. (Ex. 14:25; Isa. 5:28; 28:27) The ten copper carriages that Solomon made for use at Jehovah’s temple each had a copper axle and four chariotlike copper wheels one and a half cubits high, with hubs, spokes and felloes.—1 Ki. 7:27-33.

The potter fashioned earthenware vessels on a revolving horizontal disk called a potter’s wheel. (Jer. 18:3, 4) Also, a bucket might be lowered and raised in a cistern by means of rope attached to some type of wheel or windlass.—Eccl. 12:6.

ILLUSTRATIVE AND FIGURATIVE USE

According to the Hebrew Masoretic text, Proverbs 20:26 reads: “A wise king is scattering wicked people, and he turns around upon them a wheel.” This seems to allude to an action of a king comparable to the use of the wheel in threshing grain. (Compare Isaiah 28:27, 28.) The metaphor appears to indicate that the wise king acts promptly in separating wicked persons from righteous ones and in punishing the wicked. Thereby evil is suppressed in his domain. (Compare Proverbs 20:8.) However, by a slight alteration, this verse says that a wise king turns around upon the wicked “their own hurtfulness.”

The uncontrolled tongue is a “fire” that “sets the wheel of natural life aflame.” The entire round of one’s life can be set aflame by the tongue, even as a very hot axle can set a wheel on fire.—Jas. 3:6.

By the river Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, Ezekiel envisioned Jehovah riding upon a swift-moving chariotlike celestial vehicle. Its four wheels had rims filled with eyes, and within each wheel was another wheel apparently at right angles, making it possible to go forward or to either side without changing the angle of the wheels. Beside each wheel was a cherub, the cherubic living creatures and wheels moving in unison as spirit-directed. (Ezek. 1:1-3, 15-21; 3:13) The following year, Ezekiel had a similar vision, this time before the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem and indicating that soon that city and the temple would be destroyed in execution of Jehovah’s judicial decision. (Ezek. 8:1-3; 10:1-19; 11:22) Some sixty years thereafter, Daniel envisioned the Ancient of Days, Jehovah, seated upon a heavenly wheeled throne. Both throne and wheels were aflame, suggesting the approach of fiery divine judgment upon world powers.—Dan. 7:1, 9, 10; Ps. 97:1-3.

WHIP

This instrument, usually a flexible cord or leather lash with a handle, has been used since ancient times to beat humans (2 Chron. 10:11, 14) and in driving and directing animals.—Prov. 26:3; Nah. 3:2.

King Rehoboam boasted that, whereas his father Solomon had chastised the Israelites with “whips”, he would do so with “scourges.” Though Rehoboam’s expression was figurative, the scourges alluded to may have been lashes equipped with sharp points, since the Hebrew word (ʽaq·rab·bimʹ) for “scourges” literally means “scorpions.”

Eliphaz the Temanite spoke of the “whip of a tongue.” (Job 4:1; 5:21) Apparently the allusion was to the use of the tongue to inflict injury, as in slandering and speaking abusively.—Compare Proverbs 12:18; James 3:5-10.

At Passover time of 30 C.E., “after making a whip of ropes, [Jesus] drove all those with the sheep and cattle out of the temple.” Indicating that Jesus used the whip only on the animals, not on the men with the sheep and cattle, is the fact that he evicted the sellers of doves verbally, not with the whip. Also, by driving out the cattle with the whip, he upset their business activity, and the men would naturally follow after their cattle, to round them up.—John 2:13-17.

WHITE

See COLORS.

WICKEDNESS

Anyone who does not conform to God’s standard of moral excellence is wicked, bad, evil or worthless. Like the Greek word po·ne·riʹa (Matt. 22:18; Mark 7:22; Luke 11:39; Acts 3:26; Rom. 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 6:12), the adjective, noun and verb forms drawn from the Hebrew root ra·shaʽʹ designate that which is wicked. (Gen. 18:23; 2 Sam. 22:22; 2 Chron. 20:35; Job 34:8; Ps. 37:10; Isa. 26:10) Po·ne·rosʹ (related to po·ne·riʹa) often signifies that which is evil or wicked in a moral sense (Luke 6:45) and can apply to something that is bad or worthless in a physical sense, as when Jesus Christ spoke of “worthless fruit.” (Matt. 7:17, 18) This word can also describe something that is hurtful and, at Revelation 16:2, has been rendered “painful” (AT, TEV) and “malignant.”—NE, NW.

WHY WICKEDNESS PERMITTED

Satan the Devil, who caused the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, to rebel against God, stands in opposition to God’s righteous standard and is appropriately termed “the wicked one.” (Matt. 6:13; 13:19, 38; 1 John 2:13, 14; 5:19) The rebellion initiated by Satan called into question the rightfulness and righteousness of God’s sovereignty, that is, whether God’s rulership over his creatures is exercised righteously and in their best interests. The fact that Adam and Eve rebelled also raised another issue: Would all other intelligent creatures prove unfaithful and disloyal to God when obedience appeared to bring no material benefits? Satan’s claim respecting faithful Job implied that they would do so. Satan said: “Skin