Biblical mile

Biblical mile (Hebrew: מיל, romanized: mīl) is a unit of distance on land, or linear measure, principally used by Jews during the Herodian dynasty to ascertain distances between cities and to mark the Sabbath limit, equivalent to about ⅔ of an English statute mile, or what was about four furlongs (four stadia).

[4][5] The word mīl, as used in Hebrew texts between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, is a Roman loanword, believed to be a shortened adaptation of the Latin mīliarium, literally meaning, "milestone,"[6] and which word signifies "a thousand" [passuum of two steps each]; hence: Roman mile.

Nearly two thousand years of Jewish exile from the Land of Israel have given rise to disputes over the precise length of the biblical mile observed by the ancients.

Another dispute is the actual time it takes for an average man to walk a biblical mile.

[9][10] Elsewhere, however, Maimonides held the view that an average man walks a biblical mile in about 20 to 24 minutes.