Convert Stone (st) to Bekan (Biblical Hebrew) (bekan) instantly.
About these units
Stone (st)
The stone equals 14 pounds, or approximately 6.35029 kilograms, and is commonly used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for expressing human body weight. It has deep traditional roots, originating from stones used as counterweights in early commerce. Although largely replaced by metric units in most applications, the stone remains emotionally and culturally significant for personal weight expression in the UK. Many people find it more intuitive and relatable than kilograms due to long-standing social habits. The stone's endurance highlights how measurement systems reflect cultural identity as much as mathematical convenience. It is one of the few units still commonly used in conversation but not in scientific or industrial contexts.
Bekan (Biblical Hebrew) (bekan)
The bekan (or beka) is a half-shekel unit, approximately 5.6 grams. It appears in the Hebrew Bible as the required contribution for the census tax, symbolizing equality among contributors regardless of wealth. As a practical unit, the beka was useful for small-scale offerings, jewelry, and silverwork. Its precise half-shekel value made it easy to incorporate into the larger Hebrew weight structure. The bekan highlights how weights were intertwined with religious observance and communal obligations in ancient Israelite society.