Biblical Cubits to Feet (cubit to ft)

1 biblical cubit equals 1.771653543 feet (rounded).

1 biblical cubit = 1.771653543 feet

How to convert biblical cubits to feet

To convert biblical cubits to feet, multiply the number of biblical cubits by 1.771653543. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply feet by 0.5644444444 (rounded).

feet = biblical cubits × 1.771653543

Example: 10 biblical cubits = 17.71653543 feet.

Approximate value. Standards for the biblical cubit varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About these units

Biblical Cubit (cubit)

Biblical (Hebrew)Historical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

The cubit of the Hebrew Bible, taken here as the rabbinic cubit of about 54 cm (21 in). Estimates range from about 48 cm to 57.6 cm, so the exact value is debated.

Latin cubitum means elbow, and the cubit began as the span from elbow to fingertip. The Hebrew term is amah. The Bible gives measurements in cubits for Noah's Ark, the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, so the length matters to anyone trying to reconstruct them. Since arms differ, the unit varied by country and era, and no single figure is certain.

In the second century CE the rabbis defined a cubit as six handbreadths, each of four fingerbreadths, which gives roughly 54 cm. Later authorities disagree: Avraham Chaim Naeh calculated 48 cm, and the Chazon Ish 57.6 cm. Maimonides also described a shorter cubit of five handbreadths for measuring the altar. The 54 cm rabbinic figure is the one used here. A rough modern comparison is the length of a forearm and a hand, or between 19 and 23 inches.

1 biblical cubit = 0.54 meters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cubit; Wikipedia: Sabbath day's journey (biblical mile)

Foot (ft)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

12 inches. Defined as exactly 0.3048 meters. Still the standard unit for height, altitude in aviation and room dimensions in the US and UK.

Human anatomy supplied the idea: an adult foot is roughly 15 percent of body height. Ancient cultures turned that into standards, but not the same one. The Greek pous was about 302 mm, the standard Roman pes about 295.7 mm, and a Harappan foot of about 335 mm has been reported from the Indus Valley. Historically, a foot fell somewhere between about 250 and 335 mm. Charlemagne tried to standardize units around 790 with little lasting success, and in 1593 English law fixed the statute mile at 5,280 feet.

The modern foot dates from the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement, which defined the yard as exactly 0.9144 meter and so the foot as exactly 0.3048 meter; the UK adopted it on 1 January 1964. The US survey foot, defined in 1893 as 1200/3937 meter, was deprecated on 31 December 2022. Feet remain in everyday use for height and rooms in the US, and ISO shipping containers are defined in them. Aviation altitudes use them too: flight level 330 means 33,000 feet.

1 foot = 0.3048 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Foot (unit); Wikipedia: Mile; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

Related conversions

See all length units.