An ancient Hebrew unit of weight, about 5.7 grams (88.1 grains). Also romanized as bekah and beqa. Both archeological and documentary sources make it clear that the beka is half of a shekel.
And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
Genesis 24:22 (King James)
A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.
Exodus 38: 26 (King James)
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Last revised: 2 December 2015.