In the course of the excavations by Bliss in the Shephelah a number of weights were found, some of which were inscribed. Macalister also found a large number of weights at Gezer, a few of which bore inscriptions. Some others have been found by natives and purchased by travelers. The writer had the pleasure of discovering two weights in this way. =3. Inscribed Weights.=--These inscribed weights are of the greatest interest to the students of the Bible. Five weights are known that are inscribed in old Hebrew characters with the word _neseph_, “half”; see Fig. 186. These are undoubtedly half-shekels. Two of the three are broken, and one is perforated. The other two weigh, respectively, 157.56 grains and 153.6 grains. The average of these is 155.5 grains, which would make the shekel 311 grains. Another weight, said to have come from Samaria, was described some years ago by Dr. Chaplin. It bears the inscription _roba neseph_, “the quarter of a half,” and weighs 39.2 grains. Another weight from Samaria is in the possession of Mr. Herbert Clark, of Jerusalem. It is made in the form of a turtle and bears the inscription _homesh_, “a fifth,” and weighs 38.58 grains. Probably it was intended as the fifth part of a shekel. Another series of inscribed weights, of which three examples are known, bears the inscription _beqa_. The word comes from a root that means “cleave” or “split.” This word occurs twice in the Old Testament, in Gen. 24:22 and Exod. 38:26. In the passage last mentioned it is defined as half a shekel; (see Fig. 188). A third variety of weight bears the inscription _payim_. The first of these to be discovered was found by the writer in the hands of a dealer in Jerusalem. On one side it bore the word _payim_ and on the other _lezekaryahu yaer_, “belonging to Zechariah son of Jaer.” This weight is cubic in form (see Fig. 187) and weighs 117.431 grains.[184] Macalister found another of similar shape, which bore only the inscription _payim_. It weighed 114.81 grains. The word _payim_ is very puzzling. It has been interpreted by Clermont-Ganneau as meaning “two-thirds,” and as designating two-thirds of a shekel. Possibly this is right. This weight is mentioned in 1 Sam. 13:20, 21, and its discovery has explained a Hebrew phrase which has puzzled all translators. We now know that these verses should be rendered: “But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his plowshare, and his axe, and his adze, and his hoe, and the price was a _pim_ (or _payim_) for the plowshares, and for the axes, and for the three-tined forks, and for the adzes, and for the setting of the goads.” The name of the weight here expresses the price, just as shekel, the name of another weight, does elsewhere.[185] One bronze weight found at Gezer bore words meaning “belonging to the king,” but it is not clear to what king it referred.