An Obsidian plugin that automatically converts biblical units of measurement to modern equivalents with monetary value estimates.
Biblical Units Converter helps Bible readers better understand ancient units of measurement by automatically converting them to modern metric units. The plugin supports units of length, weight, volume, time, and monetary units used in biblical times, with modern economic equivalents based on historical wage data.
- 🔄 Automatic conversion of biblical units to modern equivalents
- 💰 Monetary equivalents showing modern value of ancient coins
- 🌍 Multilingual support (Russian, English, Spanish)
- 📅 Hebrew calendar information with agricultural and religious events
- ⚙️ Flexible formatting options (parentheses, inline, callout, replace)
- 🎯 Selective conversion with customizable unit types
- 📝 Context menu integration for easy access
- Finger/Палец (0.0185 m) - width of a finger
- Handbreadth/Ладонь (0.074 m) - width of four fingers
- Span/Пядь (0.222 m) - distance from thumb to little finger
- Cubit/Локоть (0.445 m) - main unit of length in antiquity
- Long Cubit/Длинный локоть (0.518 m) - extended cubit
- Reed/Трость (2.67 m) - measuring rod
- Fathom/Сажень (1.8 m) - distance between outstretched arms
- Stadium/Стадий (185 m) - Greek unit of length
- Mile/Поприще (1480 m) - Roman mile
- Gerah/Гера (0.57 g) - 1/20 shekel
- Bekah/Бека (5.7 g) - 1/2 shekel
- Pim/Пим (7.8 g) - 2/3 shekel
- Shekel/Шекель (11.4 g) - main unit of weight ≈ 0.5 work days ≈ $25
- Mina/Мина (570 g) - 50 shekels ≈ 4 months salary ≈ $6,100
- Talent/Талант (34.2 kg) - 60 minas ≈ 20 years salary ≈ $365,000
- Lepton/Лепта (0.34 g) - smallest coin
- Quadrans/Кодрант (0.68 g) - Roman copper coin
- Denarius/Динарий (3.85 g) - 1 day's wage ≈ $50
- Drachma/Драхма (3.4 g) - 1 day's wage ≈ $45
- Didrachma/Дидрахма (6.8 g) - 2 days' wage ≈ $90
- Tetradrachma/Тетрадрахма (13.6 g) - 4 days' wage ≈ $180
- Greek Mina/Мина греческая (340 g) - ~100 days' wage ≈ $5,000
- Greek Talent/Талант греческий (20.4 kg) - ~20 years' wage ≈ $365,000
- Log/Лог (0.31 l) - smallest liquid measure
- Hin/Гин (3.67 l) - 1/6 bath
- Bath/Бат (22 l) - standard liquid measure
- Cor/Кор (220 l) - largest liquid measure
- Choenix/Хиникс (1.08 l) - daily grain ration
- Cab/Каб (1.22 l) - small dry measure
- Omer/Гомор (2.2 l) - daily bread portion
- Seah/Сата (7.33 l) - 1/3 ephah
- Ephah/Ефа (22 l) - standard dry measure
- Homer/Хомер (220 l) - largest dry measure
- Watch/Стража (3 h) - night watch period
- Hour/Час (1 h) - daytime hour
- Day/День, Week/Неделя, Month/Месяц, Year/Год
- Copy the plugin folder to the
.obsidian/plugins/directory of your vault - Restart Obsidian
- Enable the plugin in Community plugins settings
Simply type biblical units in your notes and convert them:
Input: 1 talent of silver
Output: 1 talent of silver (34.20 kg ≈ 20 years salary = $50×7300 ≈ 365,000 dollars (silver))
Input: 5 cubits
Output: 5 cubits (2.22 m)
- Convert Selected Units - Convert units in selected text
- Convert All Units in Document - Convert all units in the entire document
- Find and Convert - Search and convert with specific settings
- Month Information - Get Hebrew calendar details
Right-click on selected text to access:
- 🔄 Convert - Standard conversion
- 📋 Convert in Callout - Format as Obsidian callout
- 🔍 Find and Convert - Bulk conversion with custom settings
- 📅 Month Information - Hebrew calendar details
- Parentheses:
1 cubit (0.44 m) - Inline:
1 cubit = 0.44 m - Replace:
0.44 m - Callout:
> [!convert] Units of Measurement > **1 cubit = 0.44 m**
Convert Hebrew month names to get detailed information:
Input: nisan
Output:
> [!convert] Month - NISAN (ABIB) - (March—April)
> **Events**
> **14** Passover
> **15-21** Unleavened Bread
> **16** Offering of firstfruits
> **Weather**
> Jordan swells from rains, melting snow
> **Crops/Activity**
> Barley
- English - Default
- Russian (Русский) - Full translation
- Spanish (Español) - Complete localization
- Enable/disable specific unit types (length, weight, volume, time)
- Precision control (0-5 decimal places)
- Bold formatting for converted values
- Monetary equivalents toggle
- Separate settings for "Find and Convert" function
When enabled, ancient coins show modern economic value:
- Customizable daily wage - set your own daily wage for calculations
- Transparent formula - shows calculation:
$50×7300 = $365,000 - Based on historical daily wages (work days equivalent)
- Accounts for silver/gold content
- Multilingual formatting
All conversion data is based on:
- JW.ORG official biblical units reference
- Archaeological findings and historical research
- Ancient wage and economic data
- Modern silver/gold market values
1 талант (34.20 кг ≈ 20 лет зарплаты = $50×7300 ≈ 365,000 долларов (серебро))
1 talent (34.20 kg ≈ 20 years salary = $50×7300 ≈ 365,000 dollars (silver))
1 talento (34.20 kg ≈ 20 años de salario = $50×7300 ≈ 365,000 dólares (plata))
The plugin recognizes multiple forms of each unit:
- Russian: Handles all grammatical cases (локоть, локтя, локтей)
- English: Singular and plural forms (cubit, cubits)
- Spanish: Gender and number variations (codo, codos)
- Supports both regular spaces and non-breaking spaces
- Handles decimal numbers with both dots and commas
- Case-insensitive matching
- Escapes special regex characters in unit names
This plugin is released under the MIT License.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests.
- JW.ORG Biblical Units Reference
- Archaeological and historical research on ancient measurements
- Biblical scholarship on ancient economic systems
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