In several places in the book of Revelation, and perhaps elsewhere, measurements are given which probably have symbolic meaning. Since the numbers themselves are part of the message (and perhaps a more important part than the actual measurements), these numbers should not be obscured by converting them to modern equivalents. The following passages fall into this category and are discussed below: REV 14:20; REV 16:21; REV 21:16; REV 21:17.
The treatment that follows does not pretend to be comprehensive nor even to take into consideration variations in values from one time period to another and from one location to another. The values suggested, however, should be sufficient to aid a translator to produce renderings that will give the readers a reasonable idea of size and volume.
In the discussions that follow, weights and measures are generally given in ascending order, from small to large. These discussions should be used together with the tables that appear below.