Balances

How Nave’s arranged it

• Used for weighingJob 31:6Isaiah 40:12Isaiah 40:15Ezekiel 5:1
• Money weighed withIsaiah 46:6Jeremiah 32:10
• Must be justLeviticus 19:36Proverbs 16:11
• False balance usedHosea 12:7Amos 8:5Micah 6:11
• An abominationProverbs 11:1Proverbs 20:23
• FIGURATIVE

The passages, in Bible order (13)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 13 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Leviticus 19:36

   You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 19:361 voice

   “Just balances, just weights,....

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 19:36→

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2. Job 31:6

   let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

   ›Commentary on Job 31:62 voices

   “One can consider walking without deceit by inspecting the righteousness of justice from which the deceitful man turns aside, and so he says, "let him (God) weigh me in a just balance," to discern from his justice if I have proceeded in deceit. Since deceit …

   “If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, let Him weigh me in an even balance, and let God know mine integrity. 'God to know' is said for His making us to know by a customary mode of our speech, who speak of 'a happy day,' by which it happens that we are made happy. For hence it is the Lord saith to Abraham, Now I know that thou fearest God.

   Everything gathered on Job 31:6→

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3. Proverbs 11:1

   Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 11:11 voice

   “Therefore let every man weigh his words, not with deceit and guile, for a false balance is abomination to the Lord. I do not mean that balance which weighs the wares of others, (though even in lesser matters deceit often costs dear,) but that balance of words is hateful to the Lord, which wears the mask of the weight of sober gravity, and yet practises the artifices of cunning. Great is God's anger, if a man deceive his neighbour by flattering promises, and by treacherous subtlety oppress his debtor, a craft which will not benefit himself.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 11:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Proverbs 16:11

   Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 16:111 voice

   “A weight and balance are the judgments of the Lord, etc. He calls the stones of the age, just and strong in faith, such as the apostle Peter desired those to be whom he admonished, And you also, like living stones, are being built into …

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 16:11→

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5. Proverbs 20:23

   Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 20:231 voice

   “It is an abomination to the Lord to have diverse weights, etc. For having diverse weights and a deceitful scale in one's heart means that while seeking pardon from the Lord for one's own sins, one is unwilling to forgive a man who has sinned …

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 20:23→

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6. Isaiah 40:12

   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 40:121 voice

   “Who would deny that God has made these things, who spoke through the Prophet, saying: 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance, who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who has been his counselor or instructed Him?' We also read elsewhere: Because it holds the circuit of the earth and has made the earth as nothing.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 40:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Isaiah 40:15

   Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 40:151 voice

   “(Verse 15) Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. LXX: Behold, all the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. All peoples who did not know their Creator or the whole human race in comparison to God are like a drop from a bucket and like a speck of dust on a scale that tilts lightly to one side.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 40:15→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Isaiah 46:6

   They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 46:62 voices

   “(Verse 5 and following) To whom have you likened me, and equalized, and compared me, and made me similar? You who pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver on the scales, hiring a goldsmith to make a god, and they fall down and worship. They carry him on their shoulders, carrying and placing him in his place, and he will stand, and he will not be moved from his place. But when they cry out to him, he will not hear: he will not save them from distress. LXX: To whom do you liken me?

   “And despite my exhortation you delayed in expelling such blasphemy and ungodliness, daring to compare me with those who lack being and in no way have my divinity. You esteemed me as equal to soulless wood that you shaped. You added gold and silver from contributions and made a statue from human hands, and you were not ashamed to worship it. These idols were not able to walk, let alone move, but they needed to be carried on your shoulders or dragged around by others. They are unable to hear prayers or to save.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 46:6→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Jeremiah 32:10

   I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 32:102 voices

   “(v. 9 seqq.) But I understood that it was the word of the Lord, and I bought a field from my cousin Anameel, who is in Anathoth, and I weighed out the silver, seven shekels and ten silver coins. And I wrote it in a book, and signed it, and called witnesses, and weighed the silver on a scale. And I received the sealed deed, the terms and conditions, and the external seals.

   “And I subscribed the evidence,....

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 32:10→

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10. Ezekiel 5:1

    “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 5:11 voice

    “(Chapter 5, verses 1 onwards) And you, son of man, take for yourself a sharp sword, like a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales for weighing and divide them. One third you shall burn in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are completed, one third you shall strike with the sword all around it, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword after them.

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 5:1→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Hosea 12:7

    A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

    ›Commentary on Hosea 12:71 voice

    "Canaan in his hand deceitful balance, he loved calumny, and Ephraim said: Nevertheless, I have become rich, I have found myself an idol, all my labors will not find me the iniquity which I have sinned." LXX: "Canaan in his hand is the weight of iniquity, he loved to oppress through power, and Ephraim said: But I have become rich, I have found rest for myself, all his labors will not find him, for the iniquities in which he sinned."

    Everything gathered on Hosea 12:7→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Amos 8:5

    asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

    ›Commentary on Amos 8:52 voices

    “Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn?.... The first day of every month, on which it was forbid to sell any thing, or do any worldly business, being appointed and used for religious service; see 2Ki 4:23; and which these carnal earthly minded men were weary of, and wanted to have over, that they might be selling their grain, and getting money, which they preferred to the worship of God.

    “(V. 4, seqq.) Listen to this, you who crush the poor and make the needy of the earth fail, saying: When the month passes, we will sell our goods, and on the Sabbath, we will open the granary to decrease the measure and increase the weight; we will use deceitful scales to possess the poor in silver and sell the refuse of wheat.

    Everything gathered on Amos 8:5→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Micah 6:11

    Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

    ›Commentary on Micah 6:112 voices

    “Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances,....

    “(Verse 10 and following). Listen, you who are wise, and who will approve of it? The fire is still burning in the house of the wicked, the treasure of impiety, and the measure of anger is not yet full. Shall I justify the wicked scales and the deceitful weights of the bag? In them, her rich ones are filled with iniquity, and those who dwell in her speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. And so I have begun to strike you with destruction because of your sins.

    Everything gathered on Micah 6:11→

    Verse page →Original language →