Pim weight, a polished stone about 15 mm (5/8 inch

Inch

An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...

) diameter, equal to about two-thirds of a Hebrew shekel

Shekel

Shekel , is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency. The first usage is from Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. Initially, it may have referred to a weight of barley...

. Many specimens have been found since their initial discovery early in the 20th century, and each one weighs about 7.6 gram

Gram

The gram is a metric system unit of mass....

s compared to 11.5 gram

Gram

The gram is a metric system unit of mass....

s of a shekel

Shekel

Shekel , is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency. The first usage is from Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. Initially, it may have referred to a weight of barley...

. Its name, which can also be transliterated as "payim", comes from the inscription seen across the top of its dome shape: פימ

Impact

Until Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister

Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister

Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister was an Irish archaeologist.Macalister was born in Dublin, Ireland and studied at Cambridge University. Although his earliest interest was in the archaeology of Ireland, he soon developed a strong interest in biblical archaeology. Along with Frederick J...

's excavations at Gezer

Gezer

Gezer was a Canaanite city-state and biblical town in ancient Israel. Tel Gezer , an archaeological site midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is now an Israeli national park....

 (1902-1905 and 1907-1909), scholars did not know how to translate the word pim in 1Samuel

Books of Samuel

The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...

 13:21. Here is the 1611 translation of the King James Version of the Bible

King James Version of the Bible

The Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Version, King James Bible or KJV, is an English translation of the Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611...

:

Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.

The 1982 New King James Version

New King James Version

The New King James Version is a modern translation of the Bible published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. The New Testament was published in 1979. The Psalms in 1980. The full Bible was published in 1982. It took a total of 7 years to complete...

 rendered it:

And the charge for a sharpening was a pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads.

Apparently the word and the weight fell out of usage during the Israelite monarchy, so its appearance in the books of Samuel

Books of Samuel

The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...

 indicates that the historian used ancient source material.

Photos

See also

• Ancient Hebrew units of measurement
  Ancient Hebrew units of measurement
  Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement, such as the Omer, used primarily by ancient Israelites, appear frequently within the Hebrew Bible as well as in later Judaic scripture, such as the Mishnah and Talmud...
  
  
• Biblical archaeology
  Biblical archaeology
  For the movement associated with William F. Albright and also known as biblical archaeology, see Biblical archaeology school. For the interpretation of biblical archaeology in relation to biblical historicity, see The Bible and history....
  
  
• List of artifacts significant to the Bible